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ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES 

HISTORICAL AND 

RELIGIOUS 



WITH A PAPER ON 
BISHOP BERKELEY 



BY 



E. EDWARDS BEARDSLEY, D. D., LL. D. 




1X> 



CAMBRIDGE 

JBrinteD at rtje foibmiot press 

1892 



Ths Library 

of Congress 

washihotoh 






Copyright, 1892, 
By ELISABETH M. BEARDSLEY. 

All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.'S. A. 
Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company. 



PREFACE. 

The death of its honored and lamented author oc- 
curred while this volume was passing through the 
press. It is thus left to others to say some things 
which he would have wished to say had he lived to 
write his own preface to his work. At the request 
of one whose wish carried with it the obligation of a 
command — most willingly received — I attempt to 
say what seems to be needful so far as I can hope to 
do it. 

These discourses were collected at the urgent and 
repeated instance of friends who were anxious for 
their preservation in a permanent and accessible 
shape. They comprise a period covering many 
years, and deal with many topics, the details of 
which, however much of local interest they may pos- 
sess, could hardly find a place in general history. 
Few, however, will question the desirableness of pre- 
serving such details for coming generations ; and 
these sermons and addresses may well be regarded 
as supplements to their author's History of the 
Diocese of Connecticut and his Lives of Johnson and 
Seabury. The collecting and editing them was his 
last labor of love for the diocese in which he was 



iv PREFACE. 

born, where his entire life was passed, and to which 
he gave, not merely an hereditary attachment, but a 
love that was rooted in the depths of his very being 
and a loyalty that was absolutely unswerving. 

In discourses like those which follow there must 
needs be repetitions of events and thoughts which 
would not occur in a connected history, and which 
in such a history might well be counted blemishes. 
Here, however, they appear under new conditions 
and with varied connections and surroundings ; and, 
at all events, could by no possibility have been 
avoided. 

One paper presents an exception to the rule which 
has shaped this collection, that, namely, on Bishop 
Berkeley. The life, however, of the " mitred saint of 
Cloyne " was so intimately connected with the story 
of the diocese of Connecticut, in his loving sympathy, 
wise counsels, and benefactions to the cause of good 
learning, that a sketch of him can hardly be re- 
garded as out of place among these memorials. 

As I write these few lines I cannot but feel that I 
may well say, "Fungar inani munere ;" and yet there 
is a melancholy pleasure in laying even this slight 
offering on the grave of one to whom I was knit in 
the unbroken friendship of more than twice a score 
of years, — a friendship on which no cloud had ever 
cast a shadow. 

J. WILLIAMS. 
Berkeley Divinity School, January, 1892. 



CONTENTS. 

PACK 

ADDRESS 1 

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, Octo- 
ber 1, 1844. 

HISTORICAL ADDRESS 49 

Twenty fifth Annual Commencement of Trinity College, July 30, 
1851. 

THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT 77 

Sermon at the Consecration of Christ Church, Stratford, July 29, 
1858. 

THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS 98 

Sermon before the Annual Convention of the Diocese of Connecti- 
cut, June 12, 1860. 

THE PROFIT OF WISDOM 114 

Discourse to the Pupils of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, 
November 20, 1863. 

THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED 128 

Discourse Commemorative of the Life of the Reverend Stephen Jew- 
ett, M. A., in St. Thomas's Church, New Haven, September 1, 1861. 

MEMORIAL DISCOURSE ON BISHOP BROWNELL .... 143 
Delivered in St. Thomas's Church, New Haven, January 22, 1865. 

GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD 157 

Discourse at the Reopening of St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, Novem- 
ber 9, 1864. 

THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS 173 

Sermon at the Opening of Trinity Church, Newtown, February 3, 1870. 

THE LESSONS OF THE PAST 195 

Sermon at the Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Rever- 
end John Rutgers Marshall, M. A., in St. Paul's Church, Woodbury, 
September 6, 1871. 



vi CONTENTS. 

SERMON 211 

St. Thomas's Church, New Haven, on the Twenty-fifth Anniversary 
of the Parish, Easter, 1873. 

PRIVILEGE AND DUTY 229 

Sermon at the Reconsecration of St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, Febru- 
. ary 24, 1876. 

BISHOP BERKELEY 242 

From the "Church Review," October, 1881. 

FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB 275 

Sermon at the Consecration of the Church of the Ascension, New 
Haven, July 12, 1883. 

THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED .287 

Sermon at the Reconsecration of Christ Church, Redding, July 6, 

1888. 

LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE 299 

Sermon at the Reopening of St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, after Ad- 
ditions to the Original Edifice, January 16, 1890. 

GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD 309 

Sermon at the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of St. James's 
Parish, Birmingham (Derby), June 30, 1891. 



ADDRESS 

AT THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EPISCOPAL 
ACADEMY OF CONNECTICUT : DELIVERED IN ST. PETER'S 
CHURCH, CHESHIRE, OCTOBER 1, 1844. 

When I was officially requested some months since 
to prepare an address to be delivered on this occasion 
of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the " Episcopal Acad- 
emy of Connecticut," I little thought that the task 
would be one requiring such diligent and patient 
investigation. But so fugitive is all unwritten his- 
tory, and so vague is the voice of tradition, that even 
the lapse of half a century is quite sufficient to efface 
the recollection of many important events. As the 
value of historical truth depends upon its minuteness 
and accuracy, it is greatly to be regretted that the 
early Churchmen of this country, and especially of 
Connecticut, did not make a more free use of their 
pens, and record for the benefit of posterity the com- 
mencement and progress of their enterprises and 
ministrations. Looking back from this distance of 
time, we fall upon some periods in the Church's ear- 
lier and more eventful history that are in a measure 
obscured by the absence of full and faithful records. 
To supply this deficiency, or to rescue from oblivion 
events and transactions that are rapidly passing from 
the memory of man, is an employment alike agree- 
able to the Christian and to the scholar. 



2 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

In the preparation of this Address, I have taken 
great pains to insure correctness, having derived my 
materials from authentic sources, — from original 
documents, published as well as unpublished, and from 
the oral information of trusty witnesses. Though the 
task has been attended with considerable perplexity, 
I have not prosecuted it without reaping, as I pro- 
ceeded, some reward for my diligence. I have found 
the early history of the Academy so identified with 
the correspondent history of the Church in Connecti- 
cut, that I am thankful for the opportunity of making 
myself acquainted with what otherwise might have 
escaped my notice. I only lament that the pressure 
of other engagements has compelled me to write my 
address as Sallust wrote his history of the Koman 
people, " by piecemeals." Any lack of finish, therefore, 
in the performance, or any seeming neglect of the art 
of condensation, will be readily overlooked by those 
who know how to excuse a man who ventures to 
undertake more than he ought to accomplish. 

The project of establishing an Episcopal Academy 
in the Diocese of Connecticut was formed soon after 
the consecration of Dr. Seabury to the Episcopate. 
He, in common with his brethren of the clergy, felt 
most keenly the want of some literary institution, 
where the sons of the Church might receive a thorough 
classical education, without endangering the religious 
predilections of their childhood. It was a period of 
strong prejudice, and of no little intolerance. The 
war of the Revolution had just closed, and the favor 
which the Episcopal clergy and their people generally 
had shown towards the mother country in that strug- 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 3 

gle was calculated to strengthen the prejudices of 
other religious bodies. The ministers of the Church 
were missionaries of the Venerable Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the 
oath of allegiance which they were required to take, 
previous to their ordination, and the peculiar relations 
in which they stood to the Bishop of London, made it 
in their view as unnatural for them to resist the pre- 
tensions of the crown of England as for the child to 
oppose the wishes of the parent. If this was not a 
sufficient excuse for their loyalty, it should have pal- 
liated in some degree the heinousness of their offense, 
and spared the Church from subsequent hostility on 
their account. 

The Bishop and clergy of Connecticut might have 
been urged to the establishment of an institution of 
their own by the illiberal policy of the Corporation of 
Yale College. Ever since 1722, when Dr. Cutler and 
his associates declared for Episcopacy, extreme cau- 
tion had been used by the Trustees to prevent the 
admission of any one as an instructor in the College 
who should be suspected of " inclining to Armenian 
or prelatic principles." Most of the clergy were grad- 
uates of this institution ; but the affection which they 
cherished for their Alma Mater was not so great as 
the love they bore to the Church. They saw that its 
prosperity, under God, was to be advanced by their 
own zeal and faithfulness. They were anxious to 
increase the number of candidates for Holy Orders, and 
without lowering the standard of theological attain- 
ments, they sought to effect their object by establish- 
ing an institution which should serve the double pur- 



4 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

pose of a preparatory school and a university. Bishop 
Seabury was a scholar himself and would have his 
clergy scholars. He wished them educated upon 
Church principles, that they might be able success- 
fully to contend for Church principles. He was not 
unacquainted with the business of an instructor of 
youth, and perhaps this experience led him to value 
more highly the plan of an Academy ; for while Hec- 
tor of the parish of Westchester, N. Y., he opened a 
Grammar school, and taught it with as much profit 
to himself as advantage to his pupils, until forcibly 
arrested and carried out of the province by a body 
of armed men. 1 

The first record relating to the establishment of the 
Episcopal Academy was made in 1792. At a Convo- 
cation of the clergy, holden at East Haddam, on the 
15th of February of that year, it was " Voted that the 
several clergy make enquiry of their neighboring 
towns, and see what can be done towards erecting an 
Episcopal Academy, and report to the next Convoca- 
tion." This resolution probably received only a verbal 
response, for nothing is to be found on record again 
until the year 1794, when the Convention, taking hold 
of the matter in earnest, appointed a committee to 
prepare an address to the members of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in this State, pointing out the im- 
portance of establishing an Episcopal Academy — at 

1 He presented a petition to the General Assembly of Connecticut in 
1775, for relief and protection, showing that he had received anything 
but gentle treatment at the hands of his enemies. He defended himself 
against their charges, and pronounced his " arrest a high infringement 
of that liberty for which the sons of America were then so nobly strug- 
gling." See Life and Correspondence of Bishop Seabury, pp. 36-42. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 5 

the same time instructing them to provide subscrip- 
tion papers for the purpose of obtaining moneys 
to effect such an establishment. 1 This committee 
reported next morning, that as more time was neces- 
sary to accomplish the business than had been as- 
signed them, a Standing Committee, in their opinion, 
should be appointed to address the members of the 
Episcopal Church on the importance of the object, 
and to present a plan of the Academy, with subscrip- 
tion papers for the purpose of raising a sufficient 
fund. The Rev. Dr. Mansfield, of Derby, was chair- 
man of this committee ; and at the next annual 
Convention held in Stratford, June 3, 1795, the sub- 
scription papers were returned, and proposals for es- 
tablishing and supporting an Academy received from 
the towns of Wallingford and Cheshire. So favor- 
able were the proposals that the Convention imme- 
diately resolved to establish an Episcopal Academy 
in this State, to be under such limitations and regu- 
lations as should be afterwards agreed to by the 
Convention. A subsequent resolution empowered a 
committee of nine to receive proposals from the towns 
of Cheshire, Wallingford, and Stratford only, until 
the first day of July following, at which time they 
were to meet at Major Bellamy's Tavern in Hamden, 
and establish the Academy in that town which they 
should consider the most eligible. At the same Con- 
vention, the Rev. John Bowden, Rev. Ashbel Bald- 
win, and S. W. Johnson, Esq., were appointed to 
" frame a code of laws for the temporary government 
of the Episcopal Academy established in this State, till 

1 Journal of Connecticut Convention, 1794. 



6 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

the next annual Convention, and also to form a con- 
stitution upon the most liberal and beneficial plan, 
together with a code of laws for the future govern- 
ment of the Academy ; " all to be laid before such 
Convention, for their consideration and approbation. 

These extracts from the early Journals show that 
the institution has had, strictly speaking, an ecclesi- 
astical existence a little more than forty-nine years, — 
though it is above fifty since effective measures were 
adopted, and subscription papers issued to raise a fund 
for the endowment. 

The Convention that met at Stratford was the last 
in which Bishop Seabury was permitted to preside. 
Death removed him soon after from the scene of his 
earthly ministrations, so that he never had the satis- 
faction of witnessing the completion and full adoption 
of the plan which he had recommended and urged. 
The loss of his valuable counsel was in a measure 
supplied by the sound learning and superior wisdom 
of the Eev. Dr. Bowden. This gentleman, after his 
return from the island of Ste. Croix, in the year 1791, 
took up his residence in Stratford, and employed 
himself in the arduous business of managing an 
Academy. The weakness of his voice unfitted him 
for exercising the public duties of the ministry ; and 
neither his inclination nor circumstances permitting 
him to be idle, he sought some other way in which he 
might render his talents of service to the Church and 
comfort to his family. The interest that he evinced 
in the establishment of the Academy, and the impor- 
tant aid he rendered in forming its Constitution, not 
only show him to have been one of its original pro- 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 7 

jectors, but indicate that his thoughts were early 
turned to the responsible office which he afterwards 
held. The annual Convention that assembled in 
Cheshire, June 1, 1796, proceeded to a discussion and 
final determination of the Constitution for the Acad- 
emy, as reported by the Committee appointed the pre- 
vious year ; and agreeably to the second article of the 
same, a board of twenty-one Trustees was elected. 
The name of Dr. Bowden was not included in this 
list, and hence it is inferred that the Convention was 
already determined to appoint him the principal ; for 
when it was resolved to proceed to an election, and 
the votes were called for, he was found to be unani- 
mously chosen. He accepted the appointment, and 
entered upon the duties of his office as soon as the 
building which had been pledged by the proprietors 
was ready for the reception of students. It should 
be mentioned, however, that after the Committee had 
consented to the propositions from Cheshire, and 
decided to establish the Academy in this place, the 
Rev. Tillotson Bronson, then a young clergyman, 
opened a school, pursuant to the wishes of the Con- 
vention, in a small building that stood opposite the 
residence of Dr. Elnathan Beach. 

The corner-stone of the present edifice was laid 
with Masonic honors, the 28th of April, 1796. On 
that occasion the Rev. Reuben Ives, whose agency in 
securing the establishment of the Academy in Che- 
shire was probably beyond that of any other man, 
delivered an address in the Church, from the manu- 
script copy of which I extract his concluding remarks. 
" Such are the animating considerations to unite the 



8 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

hearts and strengthen the hands of those who have 
engaged in the work on. which we have now assem- 
bled. Let them not be discouraged by any difficulties 
that may be thrown in their way, but persevere 
unto the end, resting assured that they will meet the 
approbation of every candid and liberal mind. Let 
them look forward unto the distant good they are about 
to promote, — the services they are rendering to soci- 
ety and religion. And may the blessing of God suc- 
ceed their undertaking; may his grace and Holy 
Spirit be our guide in the remaining parts of this 
solemnity, that decency and order may pervade our 
proceedings, and this day furnish a useful, lesson of 
instruction to all who are present — grateful to their 
memories and lasting as their lives." 

The assemblage present at the ceremony of laying 
the corner-stone was briefly addressed by the Kev. 
Mr. Bronson, and the day which had opened in vernal 
beauty closed, as a record tells, to the " satisfaction of 
all who participated in its exercises:' The building 
was completed in the autumn, 1796, at a cost of 
.£702, lawful money. It was conveyed by the pro- 
prietors 1 — thirty in number, together with the 
grounds about it — to the Board of Trustees, to be for- 
ever applied to the use of an Institution conducted 
upon the principles of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. The lot on which it stands was subsequently 
enlarged, and the expense of the purchase paid by 
the Trustees. 

When Dr. Bowden removed to Cheshire, he brought 
with him most of the pupils that had been under his 

1 Appendix, p. 42. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 9 

charge in Stratford. The first session of the Institu- 
tion, therefore, opened with encouraging prospects 
of success, and the liberal course of study for which 
the Constitution provided led many young men after- 
wards to seek within its walls the whole of their col- 
legiate education. By referring to the seventh and 
eighth articles of the original Constitution, we find 
what the Principal and his assistant were required to 
teach : " The English Language, Philosophy, Mathe- 
matics, and every other science usually taught at Col- 
leges; likewise the dead languages, such as Greek 
and Latin. And whenever the finances of the Acad- 
emy will admit, the Trustees shall procure an Instruc- 
tor in the French language, purchase a Library and 
Philosophical Apparatus, at their own discretion." 
And again, " The Principal, or, in his absence, the 
assistant or assistants, shall examine and admit all per- 
sons into the Academy according to his or their dis- 
cretion ; provided no person be admitted but such as 
can read the English language intelligibly ; and the 
Principal may, after admission, class them as he pleases. 
Any person wishing to pursue a particular study, such 
as the Mathematics in its various branches, Logic, 
Rhetoric, Geography, Philosophy, etc., shall have an 
instruction of that kind, without pursuing any classic 
studies of a different nature. And the Principal may 
at any time, with the advice of the Trustees, procure 
any gentleman eminent in Divinity, Law, or Physic, 
to read Lectures in those branches, respectively, pro- 
vided a fund be procured for that purpose." 

These articles of the Constitution, notwithstanding 
the quaintness of the language, sufficiently prove that 



10 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

it was the intention of the original founders of the 
Academy to erect it into a College. Many of the 
donations were made upon this supposition ; and there 
are books now in the Library — the gift of private 
benevolence — which are labeled for the Seabury 
College in Connecticut. 

The first systematic attempts towards raising a 
fund for the endowment of the institution were made 
in 1797. In the next year, a committee was ap- 
pointed by the Convention, to ascertain the grand 
levy of the Church in this State, and a Treasurer, to 
receive all the donations that might be procured. 
By a formal vote, also, the Convention appropriated 
to the benefit of the Episcopal Academy the money 
that had been previously collected for the purpose of 
sending missionaries to the frontiers of the States. 
The next year, Bishop Jarvis alluded to the subject 
in his annual Address, and measures were adopted to 
solicit aid, generally from the Churchmen of the Dio- 
cese, and the appointment of an agent to visit Europe 
with a similar object in view was recommended to the 
Trustees, as soon as they should be possessed of unap- 
propriated funds sufficient to defray the expense of 
such a mission. The agency to Europe was never 
accomplished, though strenuous efforts were made 
for two successive years to raise the sum of seven 
hundred dollars as an outfit. 

On the 14th of April, 1801, the Trustees met at 
Cheshire, and resolved to prefer a petition to the Gen- 
eral Assembly, soon to convene in Hartford, "pray- 
ing that they might be constituted and made a body 
politic and corporate, by the name of the Trustees of 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 11 

the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut." The memo- 
rial shows the prosperity of the Institution under the 
Rev. Dr. Bowden, stating, " that since the month of 
June, 1796, it had been open for the reception of 
students, and generally had in a course of education 
about sixty persons." The funds at this time con- 
sisted of bequests and donations to the amount of 
some three thousand dollar 's, and the act of incorpo- 
ration (which seems to have been readily granted) 
enabled the Trustees to hold them with safety and to 
manage them with advantage. Everything now ap- 
peared favorable to the success of the Academy. Its 
merits had begun to attract the attention of Church- 
men in all parts of the country, — and the number 
of students, as a necessary consequence, steadily in- 
creased. But an unexpected shock was given to the 
friends of the Institution when Dr. Bowden intimated 
that he should resign his office of Principal and accept 
the more comfortable position of Professor of Moral 
Philosophy and Belles-Lettres in Columbia College, 
New York. This was in the beginning of 1802, and 
at a special Convention held in Cheshire, April 12th 
of the same year, his resignation was accepted, and the 
Rev. Dr. William Smith unanimously elected to sup- 
ply his place. He entered at once upon his duties ; 
but before proceeding to consider his management 
and success as an Instructor, I must again allude to his 
predecessor, — for it comes within my plan of historic 
illustration to give a sketch of the life and character of 
those who have held the office of Principal, and have 
now passed to the reward of their labors. 

Dr. Bowden was the eldest son of Thomas Bowden, 



12 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

a Major in His Britannic Majesty's 46th Eegiment of 
Foot. His early life was as full of incident as his 
middle was of trial. At the time of his birth, Janu- 
ary 7, 1751, his father's regiment was stationed in 
Ireland, but upon the breaking out of the old French 
war, the Major came with it to this country, and made 
his headquarters at Schenectady, N. Y. His son soon 
after followed him, under the charge of a clergyman 
of the Church of England. Commencing now his 
classical studies, he was, in due time, prepared for 
admission into Princeton College, New Jersey, where 
he entered and remained two years, — the fortunes of 
his father then calling him to return home to Eng- 
land with the regiment. In 1770, at the age of nine- 
teen, he again crossed the Atlantic, and, immediately 
on his arrival in New York, presented himself as a 
candidate for entrance into King's (now Columbia) 
College, where he graduated, with the usual honors, 
in 1772 ; being one of a small class who had enjoyed 
the able instructions of that Oxford scholar and Fel- 
low of Queen's College, the Rev. Dr. Myles Cooper. 

Upon the completion of his collegiate course, his 
own piety, or the piety and desire of his friends, 
turned his attention to the sacred ministry ; and, after 
the usual period of theological study, he proceeded to 
England for Orders, together with his friend, the late 
Bishop Benjamin Moore, and was ordained Deacon in 
1774, by the Rev. Dr. Keppel, Bishop of Exeter, and 
Priest by the Rev. Dr. Terrick, Bishop of London. 
" Returning in the autumn of the same year, the two 
young friends were simultaneously elected assistant 
ministers of Trinity Church, New York. The early 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 13 

friendship thus commenced was subsequently long 
tried, and terminated but with death. It was between 
congenial and worthy minds, and withstood not only 
all ordinary causes of decay or estrangement, but, 
what with inferior spirits cuts deepest, marked in- 
equality in professional success and worldly prosper- 
ity." * Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary 
War. the city churches were closed, the clergy scat- 
tered, and Dr. Bowden retired to Norwalk in this 
State. When the British troops took possession of 
Long Island and New York, he returned and dwelt at 
Jamaica 2 until their evacuation of the city. The 

1 Professor McVickar's Address at the Alumni Anniversary of Colum- 
bia College, 1837. 

2 Dr. Bowden's escape from Norwalk was attended with some little 
romance. His principles, like those of many clergymen of the Church 
of England, were known to be favorable to the mother country ; and 
probably, in his case, they were the more obnoxious from the circum- 
stance of his father's being an officer in the British service, and at 
that time stationed on Long Island. He was permitted, however, to re- 
main in his chosen retirement with his family, unmolested, until the out- 
rage upon Dr. Learning, — from the sad effects of which, that worthy 
divine never fully recovered. There were many loyalists at Norwalk, 
and it is said that in the course of the war about thirty families of Dr. 
Learning's congregation removed to Nova Scotia and other places. Dr. 
Bowden received intimations, from a friendly source, that if he did not 
immediately escape from the town he would be visited with treatment 
similar to that which had been bestowed upon his reverend brother. It 
was an early hour of twilight, when some of his friends came to him in 
great trepidation, informed him of the designs of the patriots, and begged 
him to prepare with all possible dispatch for his escape. He scarcely 
bade his family adieu and wrapped himself in comfortable clothing, 
before he hurried to Old Well, where an open boat had been previously 
procured to take him beyond the reach of his enemies' tender mercies. 
He entered it with a single oarsman, and crossed the Sound in the dark- 
ness of night, a distance of nine miles, to the Long Island shore. As he 
reached the landing, a chaise was driven to the water's edge, and a lad 
jumped out, asking him if his name was Bowden. On replying affirma- 



14 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

increasing weakness of his voice admonished him to 
seek a country parish, and the rectorship of the 
church in Norwalk being tendered to him, he ac- 
cepted it in December, 1784, and held it until Octo- 
ber, 1789. By the advice of physicians, who con- 
ceived that his lungs would be benefited by such a 
step, he consented to take the charge of a small church 
in the island of Ste. Croix. A residence of two years 
satisfied him that his general health was debilitated 
rather than strengthened, and he again returned to 
Connecticut, and settled at Stratford. From June, 
1796, to April, 1802, a period of nearly six years, he 
was the Principal of this Institution. He then entered 
upon the duties of a Professor in Columbia College, 
and " at the time our class came under his charge," 
says Professor McVickar, " he was in the fiftieth year 
of his age, though a stranger's estimate would prob- 

tively, he was desired to get in, and be should be taken to bis father. 
Thus separated from his family, and cut off from all communication with 
them, he felt, though surrounded by other kindred and friends, the 
solitariness of his condition. Unable to accomplish his object in any 
other way, he wrote to General Washington for a cartel to permit him 
to remove his family from Connecticut, which he with courteous kind- 
ness granted. They remained with him at Jamaica until the British 
troops, as above stated, evacuated the city and island. 

Many years afterwards, while residing in New York, Dr. Bowden was 
invited by a gentleman to dine with him ; who, at the table, inquired if he 
had ever met with the lad who drove him from the landing; to his father's 
quarters. He replied that he had not, though he had often desired to do 
so, and for that purpose had made some considerable inquiry. " That 
lad," said the gentleman, " is now before you, your host. The fortunes 
of both of us have since changed, but nothing, I trust, will ever de- 
prive me of the happiness which I have felt, and still feel, from a rec- 
ollection of the service that I was then permitted to render you." The 
discovery made under such circumstances was not more surprising than 
agreeable. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 15 

ably have added some eight or ten to that number, 
from the deep furrows which sickness or sorrow, or 
perhaps both, had left upon his strongly marked 
countenance. His figure, though somewhat stooping, 
was still commanding, and his general air retained (so 
at least it seemed to boyish eyes) a good deal of the 
military manner, to which, we understood that, in 
earlier years, he had been accustomed, not only as the 
son of a British officer, but having himself held a 
chaplaincy in the army." He continued in the office 
of a professor until his death, which occurred, July 
31, 1817, at Ballston Springs, whither he had gone 
on the close of the session in the hope that his declin- 
ing constitution might be benefited by a free use of 
the waters. He there lies interred, with a modest 
tablet gratefully erected to his memory by the Trus- 
tees of Columbia College. 

Dr. Bowden was justly distinguished as an able 
divine and a finished scholar. His sermons, full of 
matter, were marked by great simplicity and con- 
ciseness of style, and, before his voice failed him, his 
delivery is said to have been forcible and interesting. 
His extensive acquirements in theology, and his 
powers of clear and cogent reasoning, rendered him 
an able advocate and defender of the Church. His 
" Letters on the Apostolic Origin of Episcopacy " are 
unsurpassed for strength and clearness of argument, 
and his other published writings, more valuable in 
their day than now, fully reveal the extent of his 
theological researches. His influence in the Church 
and especially in the Church of Connecticut, was so 
great that his opinion oftentimes carried with it the 



16 ADDRESSES AXD DISCOURSES. 

weight of authority. At an adjourned Convention 
of this Diocese, held October 19, 1796, for the 
purpose of electing a Bishop, he was unanimously 
chosen, but^ as a particular favor, excused from giving 
a decisive answer till the next June. The weakness 
of his voice, joined with some other considerations, 
compelled him to decline accepting the Episcopate. 
Had he been able, conscientiously to have returned 
a different answer, the mitre had rarely crowned a 
worthier head. 

His success aa an instructor of youth, so far as this 
institution was concerned, is sufficiently attested by 
the patronage it received while under his charge. 
In his professorship, which was more congenial to his 
taste, we have the authoritv of his immediate buoc 
sor, for believing that he was as acceptable as he was 
faithful. His rich classical attainments served him in 
the department of polite literature. In his delivered 
lectures, he was led. from frequent quotations of the 
poets, to examine the subject of rhythmical read- 
ing : and " in this."' says Professor McVickar, " such 
was the influence of eood taste, his manner was so 
simple, his sense of the beauties of the passage so 
sincere, and his broken tones so orenuine and heart- 
felt, that even his defective utterance came in for its 
share of power; it created within us the illusion 
which Horace recommends, the tlendum i i ; we 

believed that the readers own feelings were over- 
come, and ours il speak at least of one of his hearers) 
followed of course On such occasions it was a 
pleasing sight to see him surrounded, at the close of 
the lecture, with a crowd of eager applicants, each 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 17 

seeking, with glowing cheek and glittering eye, the 
privilege of a first copy of what they had listened to 
with so great admiration. It is true, that as a dis- 
ciplinarian, he held lightly the staff of authority: 
he leaned rather on what he no doubt often found to 
be a broken reed. — his own well-founded claims to 
respect and affection. Yet in this matter, let us do 
justice to both teacher and pupil. It is in discipline. 
as in most other things, the true value is not alw 
to be judged by its first results, and more especially 
in the prosecution of studies that bear upon char- 
acter." 

With this brief sketch, due alike to the man and to 
the occasion. I dismiss the life and character of Rev. 
Dr. John Bowden. 

When Dr. Smith entered upon the duties of his 
appointment in the spring of 1802, the Academy wa- 
in a nourishing condition. Efforts had been pre- 
viously made to increase the funds, and regarding 
then such a mode of procedure as perfectly consis- 
tent with the dictates of Christian morality, a resolu- 
tion was taken in April, 1S01. to prefer a petition to 
the next General x\ssembly for a lottery to raise the 
sum of four thousand pounds, to enable the Trustees 
to purchase a Library and Philosophical Apparatus. 
and support assistant instruction. This application 
was unsuccessful, as was also another, the next year, 
to obtain the grant of a lotterv to raise a larger 
amount, the sum of twenty-eight thousand dollars. 
But during the October session of the Legislature of 
1802. the matter was more judiciously prepared, and 
an act was finally passed granting a lottery to raise 



18 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. After consider- 
able delay and perplexity, and no little loss in the 
sale of tickets, the managers closed their drawings 
and the net proceeds amounted to twelve thousand 
dollars. In the mean time, Dr. Smith had been re- 
quested to solicit donations from New York and else- 
where ; but I have no means of determining what 
success attended his efforts. 

The financial affairs of the Institution being thus 
improved, its friends began to turn their attention to 
the original design of erecting it into a college. In 
1804, obediently to a vote of the Convention, the 
Board of Trustees resolved to petition the General 
Assembly for a charter empowering them to confer 
degrees in the arts, divinity, and law, and to enjoy 
all other privileges usually granted to colleges. This 
application failed, and was not again renewed during 
the administration of Dr. Smith.* Though a man 
of learning, he seems not to have possessed the ele- 
ments of a successful instructor. The Institution 
gradually languished under his care, and losing the 
confidence of the public, the annual Convention in 
1805 appointed a committee to inquire into its pres- 
ent condition, and make an immediate report. This 
report is spread at large upon the Journal of that 
year, and states " that the condition of the Academy 
is not flourishing, the number of students gradually 
diminishing, the building going to decay, and the 
Institution itself sinking in reputation. But whether 
these unfavorable appearances arise from any defi- 
ciency in the organization of the Academy, neglect or 
mismanagement of those intrusted therewith, or the 
place of its establishment, the committee presume not 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 19 

to decide. They cannot, however, forbear to express 
their belief, that the present condition of the Acad- 
emy results in some measure from its location in the 
vicinity of a flourishing University, and in a town 
where it receives very little patronage and encour- 
agement." The report concludes with recommend- 
ing the appointment of a committee "to repair to the 
Academy, ascertain its present condition, the causes 
thereof, the state of the funds, and such other facts 
relating to the Institution as may appear to them 
interesting, and report the same, with their opinion 
thereon, to the next meeting of the Convention." 
Though no report from that committee appears in 
the Journal of 1806, I find there another piece of 
history, which was probably, at the time, of more 
absorbing interest. It is the resignation of the Rev. 
Dr. Smith, and as it is couched in peculiar phraseol- 
ogy, and bears upon what will hereafter be noticed, 
I shall be excused, I trust, for quoting it entire. 

To the Convention of the Protectant Episcopal Church of 
Connecticut, in session [at Cheshire] this fifth day of 
June, A. B. 1806 : 

Whereas, missives have passed between the Board of 
Trustees and me, whereby certain articles have been inter- 
changeably acceded to by both parties — I hereby request 
this Convention to accept of my resignation of the office of 
Principal of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, and 
upon their acceptance of the same, I shall consider myself 
as detached from all connection with the said Academy, 
either as to its internal or external regimen, or the emolu- 
ments thereof from and after the first day of October next. 

Wm. Smith, 
Principal of Episcopal Academy of Conn. 1 

1 Journal of Convention, 1806. 



20 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

This resignation was accepted, and the Convention, 
without appointing a successor, adjourned to meet 
in Newtown, the eighth day of October. The " mis- 
sives " that passed between Dr. Smith and the Trus- 
tees were not, as may be inferred from the tenor of 
his letter, altogether of a pleasant nature. Charges 
amounting to an impeachment of his character were 
brought against him, and the records of the Board 
show that the final adjustment of the matter was 
far from being mutually satisfactory. Perhaps the 
measures resorted to by one party to effect their 
object were not taken with sufficient reference to the 
peculiar temperament of the other. The dignity of 
self-respect, like any other moral quality, is more 
easily lost than regained ; and corporate bodies, divid- 
ing up the responsibility of their actions, seldom allow 
enough for private and individual character. 

Dr. Smith was a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 
and received his education at one of the Universities 
of his native country. His early life is lost to us, and 
we only know by tradition that he was studious in 
his youth, and left college with the reputation of an 
excellent classical scholar. He came to this country 
an ordained minister, in the year 1785, 1 and soon 
after his arrival assumed the charge of Stepney 
Parish in the State of Maryland. On the 7th of July, 
1787, he entered upon the duties of Rector of St. 
Paul's Church and congregation, Narragansett, R. L, 
which he continued to exercise for nearly three years. 
He addressed that parish by letter, dated January 
27, 1790, and left it the next day, having previ- 

1 Churchman's Magazine, New Series, i. 159. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 21 

ously accepted the rectorship of Trinity Church, 
Newport. 1 He was the means of organizing the 
Church in Khode Island, and delivered the sermon at 
the first Episcopal Convention held in that State, 
November 18, 1790, which was printed. In the 
spring of 1797, he removed to Norwalk in this State, 
and took the charge of St. Paul's Church. He 
preached the sermon at the consecration of Bishop 
Jarvis in October of that year, for which a vote of 
thanks was given him by the Convention, and a copy 
asked for publication. It stirred up a sharp opposi- 
tion, and the Rev. Samuel Blatchford, of Bridgeport, 
a Congregational divine, addressed a letter to the 
author, called in question his authorities, and stoutly 
maintained the validity of Presbyterian Ordination. 
Dr. Smith was soon ready with an elaborate reply, 
and showed himself so learned and skillful in the con- 
troversy that the Convention of the Diocese encour- 
aged the circulation of his work, and accepted it as an 
ingenious contribution to ecclesiastical history. An 
unhappy disagreement arising betwixt him and the 
people, in regard to the permanency of a settlement, 
he relinquished the parish at Norwalk in 1800, and 
went to New York. He opened a grammar school 
in that city, and, acquiring the reputation of an able 
teacher, he was selected, as before shown, with entire 

1 In 1838, Mr. Ross, a Baptist clergyman, delivered (in Newport) a 
century discourse, and appended a notice of the Episcopal Church 
(Trinity) in that place. It was drawn up by the late Rev. Salmon 
Wheaton, D. D., and mentioned that "had Mr. Smith's prudence been 
equal to his talents and learning, he might, with the Divine blessing, 
have been instrumental in healing the unhappy divisions among his 
people, and restoring the Church to her former prosperity." 



22 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

unanimity, to succeed the Kev. Dr. Bowden in the 
charge of this Institution. After leaving Cheshire, he 
returned to New York, and the remainder of his days 
was passed between that city and Connecticut. He 
had no permanent cure, though he officiated for sev- 
eral years in the parishes at Milford and West Haven. 
He occupied his time chiefly in writing on theological 
subjects, and compiled and published a book of 
Chants, and a larger work in the form of dissertations 
on Primitive Psalmody, designed to show the impro- 
priety of singing metre psalms in public worship, and 
the wisdom of returning to the ancient practice of 
chanting. After a life marked by much trouble and 
suffering, he died in New York, April 6, 1821, in the 
sixty-ninth year of his age. 

At one period of his ministry, Dr. Smith enjoyed in 
an eminent degree the confidence of his brethren. 
Great respect was paid to his opinion and learning. 
His intimate acquaintance with ecclesiastical history 
and his accurate retention of knowledge enabled him, 
on all occasions, to give with readiness a full and in- 
structive answer to any question in the line of his pro- 
fession. One memento of his genius is to be found in 
the Book of Common Prayer. The " Office of the 
Institution of Ministers into Parishes or Churches" 
was the production of his pen. He prepared it at the 
request of the Annual Convention for 1799, and pre- 
sented it in form to the Convocation of the clergy, 
assembled in Derby, November 25th, of the same 
year, by whom it was adopted, under the title of the 
"Office of Induction," and ordered to be printed. 1 It 

1 Records of Convocation. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 23 

was first prescribed by the General Convention of 
1804, and finally established by the Convention of 
1808, the name being changed from "Induction" to 
" Institution," and its use made to depend upon rec- 
ommendation and not upon requisition. Dr. Smith 
had a great fondness for preaching extemporaneously, 
and, saving his Scotch accent, " he was," says a con- 
temporary, " always interesting, instructive, and fre- 
quently eloquent." His remarkable colloquial powers 
made him an agreeable companion ; the rapidity 
of his- thoughts oftentimes being as surprising as it 
was felicitous. He possessed singular versatility of 
talents, and was both a theologian and a scholar, 
a composer of church music, and a constructor of 
church organs. But for the peculiarity of his tem- 
perament and the infirmity of his constitution, he 
might have been more useful in his " day and genera- 
tion." * 

The Convention, which adjourned to meet in New- 
town, accomplished little beyond the election of Rev. 
Tillotson Bronson as Principal of the Academy. He 
entered at once upon the duties of his appointment, 
and for the first fifteen years of his administration 
the Institution enjoyed a large share of the public 
confidence and patronage. The course of study for 
the more advanced pupils was somewhat changed, 

1 "I used to see Dr. Smith at my grandfather's (Dr. William Samuel 
Johnson), where, like Dominie Sampson, it was his delight, with the 
choice of several chambers in a large, old-fashioned country house, to 
have a bed made for him in the library, that he might revel from early 
dawn among the treasures of a library collected in England in the days 
of folio and quarto learning." G. C. Verplanck, in Sprague's Annals 
of the American Episcopal Pulpit, p. 347. 



24 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and the academic year divided into three terms, after 
the manner of a college. A theological department 
was created, and several young men who afterwards 
entered the ministry received their entire education 
at this Institution. In the autumn of 1819 Dr. Bron- 
son made a report to the Convention, from which it 
appears that the average number of students, from 
the date of his appointment up to that time, had been 
about sixty in each year, varying from thirty-six to 
ninety-six. Of those educated at the Academy since 
its institution, twenty-eight had received Holy Orders; 
three were then candidates; about ninety had been 
qualified to enter the various colleges. The number 
of those who had been qualified for the professions of 
Law and Medicine was considerable, but could not be 
correctly ascertained. The same year another report 
was presented to the Convention, pompously entitled, 
"On the State of Literature in the Episcopal Institu- 
tion at Cheshire," which, after due allowance for the 
private feelings of the author, indicates the confidence 
reposed in Dr. Bronson. It must be remembered 
that these reports were made during the palmy days 
of his administration ; and while to him is freely 
accorded the merit that he deserves, I might, if it 
came within my plan, speak to the praise of some 
who were his assistant instructors, — of McDonald and 
Cornwall, names not unhonored nor unknown in the 
Church's history. The finances were now in a good 
condition, the permanent funds of the Academy 
amounting to $13,598.13. The friends of the Insti- 
tution, finding its prosperity settled, redoubled their 
efforts to erect it into a College. The following pre- 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 25 

amble and resolution, entered upon the Journal of 
Convention for 1810, show most clearly the original 
intention of the founders : — 

" Whereas, doubts have arisen whether the Trus- 
tees of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, which 
was established at Cheshire, by this Convention, in 
the year 1796, (5) are invested with the power of 
conferring upon the students the degrees and testi- 
monials of literary proficiency, usually granted at 
Colleges ; and whereas the great objects contemplated 
by the Convention cannot be accomplished unless 
the Trustees are authorized to confer such degrees ; 
therefore, 

" Resolved, That the Trustees of said Academy be 
requested to prefer a petition to the next General 
Assembly of the State of Connecticut, praying that 
the said Academy may be constituted a College by 
the name and style of the Episcopal College of Con- 
necticut, with all the powers, privileges, and immu- 
nities of a College." 

The application was made obediently to this reso- 
lution, but failed, as did every similar application, 
urged from time to time, agreeably to the wish of 
the Convention. In 1811, the General Convention 
of the Episcopal Church, learning that exertions were 
making in Connecticut for the establishment of a 
second college, expressed, by a unanimous vote, their 
entire approbation of the measure and their hearty 
wishes for its success. At that time there was not a 
single college in the country under the immediate 
care and superintendence of the Church, and if the 
truth of history can be depended on, effectual meas- 



26 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ures had been taken to keep in other hands the 
control of existing seminaries. Once, and once only 
the application from this Institution was so far suc- 
cessful that an act granting a college charter passed 
the House of Representatives, but was lost in the 
Senate. The Trustees then ceased their importunity, 
and the Episcopalians of the State, guided by the 
meek wisdom and the prudent foresight of Bishop 
Brown ell, petitioned the General Assembly, in 1823, 
for the charter of a college, and obtained it on con- 
dition that thirty thousand dollars were raised by 
private contribution. The Academy now became 
the nursery of the College at Hartford, and though 
bodily indisposition and the infirmities of age ren- 
dered Dr. Bronson less competent to its manage- 
ment, the number of pupils continued respectable to 
the day of his death. His attainments were better 
than his discipline, and while an honest young man 
could make rapid progress under his instruction, he 
does not appear to have been well calculated for 
those who need other than moral motives to quicken 
their exertions. He died at his post, like the 
wounded soldier with his armor on, September 6, 1826, 
in the sixty -fifth year of his age. 

The sketch of Dr. Bronson's life and character, 
although deserving a larger space, must necessarily 
be brief. He was born at Plymouth, Conn., in the 
year 1762. His father was a farmer in respectable 
circumstances, and of superior mental capacity. 
Fond of his own employment, and perhaps not real- 
izing sufficiently the importance of a collegiate 
education, or not willing to endure the expense of it, 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 27 

he devoted the earlier years of his son to the pur- 
suits of agriculture. But though he could enforce 
obedience, he could inspire no relish for the business. 
Amid rural scenes, a taste for science developed 
itself, and often diverted the attention of the youth 
from his daily avocation. A respite from the toil of 
the body usually found him cultivating the powers 
of the mind. He had no moments to spend in idle 
amusement, for he employed his leisure in the eager 
perusal of the few books that chance threw in his 
way. At the age of eighteen he commenced the 
study of Greek and Latin, under the direction of the 
Rev. Dr. Trumbull, of Watertown, during which 
period, as well as during a part of his collegiate 
course, he taught a school, and thus defrayed, in a 
measure, the expense of his education. He gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1786, and was immediately 
admitted a candidate for Holy Orders. How high a 
rank he won as a scholar in college has not been 
ascertained ; but in laborious and faithful study sub- 
sequently no one surpassed Tilley Bronson, that 
being the familiar appellation which he received, and 
retained long after he became a clergyman. He 
was recommended by the Convocation of the clergy, 
and ordained deacon by Bishop Seabury, September 
21, 1786, and priest, February 24, 1788. He spent 
the first year of his ministry officiating in the churches 
at Strafford, Vt., and Hanover, N. H. He afterwards 
went to Boston, and supplied the place of the Kev. 
Mr. Montague, Rector of Christ Church in that city, 
during his absence in Europe. Soon after his return 
to Connecticut, he was settled over the churches at 



28 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Hebron, Chatham, and Middle Haddam, where he 
was eminently useful and greatly beloved. In the 
autumn of 1795 he came to Cheshire and opened 
a school, as before stated, preparatory to the more 
complete organization of the Academy. Upon the 
completion of a new church in Waterbury, the lat- 
ter part of the year 1797, he was invited to take the 
permanent charge of that parish, giving three fourths 
of his time to Waterbury, and the remaining fourth 
to Salem, now Naugatuck. This was a connection to 
which he recurred in after years with pleasing remi- 
niscences. It was the most interesting field of his 
parochial duties, and the church was united and pros- 
perous during the whole of his rectorship. Towards 
the end of the year 1805, " the high price demanded 
on all the necessaries of life, and the increasing ex- 
penses of his family, obliged him to ask for a propor- 
tionable increase of his salary." l This, though advo- 
cated by many of the more substantial friends of the 
church, was refused, and consequently he took his final 
leave in a farewell discourse, and removed to New 
Haven to conduct the " Churchman's Magazine." He 
was the editor of that useful periodical when appointed 
to the charge of the Institution, and except during 
the interval that it was published out of the Diocese, 
he continued to add to his other labors the responsi- 
bility of arranging the matter for the press and super- 
intending the work. The volumes edited by him are 
the most interesting and valuable of the whole series, 
and form a lasting proof of his ability and learning, 
both as a scholar and a divine. 

1 Churchman's Magazine, Old Series, iv. 1 74. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 29 

Dr. Bronson never was considered an eloquent 
preacher ; but his sermons were always well written 
and carefully matured. He was more learned than 
elegant — more argumentative than pathetic. His 
elocution was indifferent, so much so that from 
another's lips his productions would have appeared 
of another character. The sensibilities of his heart 
were of the tenderest kind, and he would often weep 
like a child while reading publicly those appointed 
lessons of the Church that detail the history of Jo- 
seph and his brethren. As a scholar, his reputation 
was deservedly high. He was profound and correct, 
without being brilliant or polished. His love of the 
classics increased with his years, and the glow of 
enthusiasm into which he would kindle while com- 
menting upon beautiful passages in Homer or Virgil 
often transported him, like Priam's zeal for fallen 
Troy, beyond the necessities of the occasion. But 
his favorite studies were Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy; and to these he would devote himself 
for hours, unconscious of external things, and un- 
mindful of his bodily comfort. He delivered to his 
pupils a series of lectures on the rise and progress 
of the Manual Arts, which, begun at an early period 
of his labors as an instructor, were perfected as the 
advancement of science and his own researches fur- 
nished materials. Detached parts of these lectures 
appeared in the " Churchman's Magazine ; " and so 
highly were they esteemed by his pupils that the 
project was once suggested of securing the publica- 
tion of the whole series. 

Dr. Bronson was chosen a member of the Connect- 



30 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

icut Academy of Arts and Sciences, about the time 
of his election to the office of Principal, and a few 
years after, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was 
conferred upon him by Brown University. His in- 
fluence in the councils of the Diocese was .uniformly 
prominent, and " for twenty years, just one half of 
his clerical life, he was honored with the confidence 
of the Convention in their choice of Standing Com- 
mittee." He held other offices of honor and respon- 
sibility, to all of which, the infirmities of age and the 
ravages of disease forced him to decline a reelection 
in June, 1826. He then addressed an affecting 
letter to the Convention, from which I make the fol- 
lowing extract : " Next October will complete forty 
years that I have been in the ministry. During the 
whole of which time I have been blessed with such 
a measure of health as never to have been absent 
from Convention through bodily indisposition; rarely 
from any other cause ; and never more than on three 
or four occasions, from the public service of the 
Church, until within a few weeks past. At this time, 
there is but one clergyman 1 in these States, whose 
letters of orders from the American Episcopate are 
dated earlier than mine. During twenty years past, 
just one half of my clerical life, I have been honored 
with the confidence of the Convention in their choice 
of Standing Committee. It is thus full time I should 
wish to retire from the trust. To this I am loudly 

1 Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, who still lives [1844], a connecting link 
between the past and the present. The first ordination held by Bishop 
Seabury, in this country was in Middletown, Conn., August 3, 1785. 
Four persons were ordained, and Mr. Baldwin was one of the number. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 31 

admonished by increasing years, and more by a 
bodily infirmity which threatens to render me inca- 
pable of discharging the incumbent duty." 

This communication, from which an extract only is 
here given, was suitably replied too by the Conven- 
tion, and in a few months the venerable man, after 
repeated attacks of paralysis, passed to the reward of 
his labors. The light of his virtuous and holy life 
was some consolation to his friends for the dark cloud 
which was thrown over his last moments. A few 
years since, his pupils and personal friends, bearing 
in affectionate remembrance his character and long- 
continued services, erected over his grave a tasteful 
and appropriate monument. 

The Trustees, upon the death of Dr. Bronson, pro- 
vided a temporary Principal, and sought in vain for 
a suitable successor. One or two gentlemen, whose 
learning and talents were more than equal to the sta- 
tion, occupied the post for a brief period, but relin- 
quished it either for the want of success, or of sufficient 
love for the employment. The establishment of the 
College at Hartford, and the changes in the methods 
of academical instruction, rendered it expedient in 
the judgment of the Convention to give to the Acad- 
emy a new and improved organization. A project 
was once started, and to some extent encouraged, of 
removing the Institution from Cheshire, and diverting 
the funds in a measure from their original purpose. 
The history of these proceedings will be best illus- 
trated by an extract from Bishop Brownell's Address 
to the Convention of 1829. "The Board of Trus- 
tees, in obedience to the instructions of the Con- 



32 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

vention, have sought in vain to obtain a suitable 
person for Principal of the Institution. Whether 
under present circumstances the Academy can be put 
in successful operation seems extremely doubtful. 
The expedients which have been adopted by the Trus- 
tees have hitherto failed of success. The funds of 
the Academy were raised for the education of youth 
under the auspices of the Church, and it is obvious 
that they ought to be sacredly applied to this object. 
They cannot be diverted to the support of a parish 
minister, nor to constitute a sinecure for a nominal 
Principal. It therefore becomes a question of no lit- 
tle embarrassment, how this Convention and the 
Board of Trustees shall best fulfill their duty to the 
founders of the Institution, and especially to those 
inhabitants of Cheshire who contributed towards its 
endowment. If no better resources can be devised, 
I recommend the continuing the funds at interest, till 
the sum lost by the failure of the Eagle Bank shall be 
restored." The Bishop's remarks were referred to a 
committee, who made a report of considerable length, 
meeting the various points of the case, and conclud- 
ing in these words : " Under the conviction before 
expressed of the ill consequences resulting from the 
union of the Academy and Church, your commit- 
tee respectfully and unanimously recommend the 
adoption of the following resolution : Resolved, That 
in the opinion of this Convention, it is inexpedient 
that the same gentleman should fill the offices of 
Principal of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire and 
Pastor of the Episcopal congregation in that place/' 
This resolution, which the Convention adopted, was 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 33 

good on paper, but the year had not ended before 
both its spirit and letter were violated, in the appoint- 
ment of the Kev. Christian F. Cruse to the charge of 
the Academy and the Church. I find no record of 
his provisional election by the Trustees, nor was he 
formally chosen Principal by the Convention till 
1831. He left in the winter of the same year, and 
the Academy was again, to all practical purposes, 
closed till the Convention, in 1832, appointed the Rev. 
Bethel Judd, D. D., Principal. As a matter of course, 
he was subsequently elected the Rector of the Parish. 
From 1828 to 1835, but two meetings of the Board of 
Trustees were held, and one only, during the admin- 
istration of Dr. Judd, to fix his salary and determine 
the conditions of his appointment. With this want 
of interest and efficiency in the Institution, might be 
mentioned the visionary project of providing for the 
support of necessitous young men, by encouraging 
the adoption of the manual labor system. Not meet- 
ing with the success that he anticipated, Dr. Judd 
resigned his office, October, 1835, though for some 
months previous he had not resided in Cheshire, or 
interested himself in the management of the Institu- 
tion. The building, which had gone into decay, was 
extensively repaired and remodeled ; and a whole 
year was suffered to elapse before the right man was 
procured to fill the vacant post. 

The period which I have now described — a period 
of ten years — may be called the dark age of the 
Academy ; and hoping that it may never return, I 
pass on to mention the revival of the Institution, 
under the zealous and indefatigable labors of the Rev. 
Allen C. Morgan. 



34 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

This gentleman was appointed provisional Principal 
by the Trustees, in May, 1836, but did not accept the 
appointment until it had been confirmed with great 
unanimity by the Convention that met in the autumn. 
The same Convention revised the Constitution of the 
Academy, and gave into the hands of the Trustees 
the power which it had hitherto exercised, of appoint- 
ing the Principal. Other features better suited to the 
object of a preparatory school were incorporated into 
the several articles, and as much of the old letter 
retained as comported with the design of the present 
organization. Mr. Morgan was eminently successful 
in his efforts to revive the Institution, and the report 
which he made at the end of the first year was so 
favorable that the Trustees, in accepting it, passed a 
complimentary resolution expressive of their satisfac- 
tion and gratification. The number of pupils ranged 
from fifty to sixty ; several of whom were gratuitously 
instructed, upon recommendation of the Standing 
Committee. It was slightly diminished the next 
year, but before another annual meeting of the 
Trustees, the mysterious Providence of God removed 
Mr. Morgan from the sphere of his usefulness. He 
died suddenly in New York, October 12, 1838, aged 
thirty-six years and nine months. 

About six weeks previous to his death he procured 
an additional Assistant in the Academy, and started, 
at the suggestion of some of his friends, on a short 
journey to Saratoga Springs. He had complained of 
being unwell for nearly a month, and it was thought 
that a brief relaxation from his accustomed duties 
might be the means of restoring him to his former 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 35 

cheerfulness and health. He had visited the Springs, 
and was returning, evidently improved, when sickness 
again prostrated him, and confined him to the house 
of a friend in New York. From this disease he was 
considered to be slowly, yet surely, recovering ; but in 
a moment, little suspected, the silver cord was loosed, 
and the "spirit returned unto God who gave it." 

Mr. Morgan was born in New London, Conn., Jan- 
uary 7, 1802. His father subsequently moved to 
Greenfield, Mass., where, under the ministry and in- 
struction of the Rev. Titus Strong, his son became 
attached to the doctrines and worship of the Episcopal 
Church, and a communicant at the early age of six- 
teen. Bent upon the attainment of a classical educa- 
tion, and determined to prosecute his design, he en- 
gaged in the business of teaching a common school. 
It was in this employment that the Rev. Dr. Wheaton, 
then Rector of Christ Church, Hartford, found him 
and kindly offered to assist him in procuring his edu- 
cation. He interested in his behalf some of the lead- 
ing men of his parish, and brought him to Hartford, 
where under his own personal instruction, he was 
fitted to join, at their third term, the Freshman class 
in Yale College. He graduated in 1826, with distinc- 
tion as a scholar, and immediately proceeded to Nor- 
walk, and took charge of an academy in that place, 
which was under the supervision of the Rev. Reuben 
Sherwood. My own knowledge of his character and 
excellence began under his faithful academic instruc- 
tion, and to him I feel that I owe the full debt of a 
student's gratitude, for laying the firm foundation of 
my classic attainments. Time, which changes all 



36 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

things, our purposes as well as our lot, brought 
the teacher and his pupil together in subsequent 
vears, and he who had been the instructor now sat a 
meek and attentive listener at the feet of him whom 
he had instructed. 

When the Rev. Mr. Sherwood accepted the rector- 
ship of the High School at Hartford, Mr. Morgan went 
with him as his principal teacher, and when he after- 
wards moved to Ulster, N. Y., he again followed him 
in the same capacity. There he continued till the 
autumn of 1831, when he returned to Hartford, and 
was ordained a Deacon in Christ Church, the 27th of 
November. He began the duties of his ministry in 
St. Matthew's Church, Plymouth, and the newly 
formed parish at Bristol, but in the latter part of the 
succeeding summer he was invited to supply the 
vacancy in the rectorship of St. John's Church, Water- 
bury, where he was ordained a Priest, January 17, 
1833. For more than four years he labored in this 
parish, with great zeal and acceptance. He showed 
himself, in all his duties, the faithful pastor and untir- 
ing friend of his people. He realized the great re- 
sponsibility which he had assumed in becoming an 
overseer in the vineyard of the Lord ; and never was 
there a man who seemed to take a livelier interest 
in everything that concerned the prosperity of the 
Church and its Institutions. He had a heart that 
could "feel for other's woes." He was an ardent friend 
to the Missionary enterprise, and cast into the treas- 
ury of the Lord even more than justice to himself 
would appear to require. His cultivated taste and ripe 
scholarship led him to cherish, with peculiar zeal, the 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 37 

cause of education, and when in 1836 he was selected 
by the Convention as a fit person to fill the office of 
Principal of this Institution, there was a long struggle 
between his feelings and duty before he could bring 
himself to accept the appointment. He saw clearly 
that the interests of the Church and of the College at 
Hartford required a strong man at this post ; and yet 
he could not bear the idea of relinquishing a parish 
that had gained such a prominent place in his affec- 
tions. He took the office, however, and filled it with 
energy and success. My limits will not permit me to 
enlarge upon his character in the different relations 
of life; nor does it seem to be so essential, from the 
fact that it is yet fresh in the remembrance of his 
pupils and friends. The best part of his years was 
spent in the laborious employment of teaching ; and 
he has left a name behind him in that capacity which 
will not soon be forgotten. As a disciplinarian he 
was severe and inflexible. He held the staff of 
authority with a firm grasp, and treated with cool 
contempt the modern notions of governing by an 
appeal to moral motives. He regarded them as 
originating in the weakness of parents and ending in 
the ruin of children. With human instruction he 
blended the lessons of divine truth, and seemed to 
feel that no degree of human learning and science is 
truly valuable, except so far as it is made subservient 
to the power of the Christian religion. In all his 
exertions, his single aim was the glory of God and the 
good of the Church. If he was ambitious, his ambi- 
tion was tempered by Christian principles. Though 
his literary attainments were of no ordinary kind, 



38 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

he was far above the vanity of wishing to appear 
learned, and therefore never stooped to court ap- 
plause by the exhibition of his talents. He knew 
that it was necessary for success in life to maintain 
the character of a good man ; but with respect to 
the public opinion of his abilities he was not solici- 
tous. He had his faults, but they were such as often 
attach to our depraved nature in its best estate. 

Verum ubi plura nitent . . . non ego paucis 
Offendar maculis. — Horat. 

Mr. Morgan lies interred in Waterbury, and his 
former parish, with as much gratitude as affection, 
have erected to his memory a neat and durable 
monument. 

The present speaker was appointed to the charge 
of the Academy November 7, 1838, and the next 
day entered upon the duties of his appointment. 
How far I have been successful in perpetuating the 
prosperity begun by my predecessor, I leave for the 
future historian to tell. It does not become me to 
eulogize myself. While similar academic institu- 
tions have been established in different parts of the 
Diocese, some on private and others on public re- 
sponsibility, this has received a share of patronage 
that has gratified the Principal and satisfied the 
Trustees. We have had in the course of instruction, 
each term for six years, an average number of forty- 
two scholars, most of whom were from other towns 
than Cheshire, and many from extreme parts of the 
Union. Efforts remotely connected with the pros- 
perity of the Academy have been blessed of God ; 
and the edifice in which we are now assembled is 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 39 

due to the joint benevolence and self-denial of the 
rector and his people. My academic charge will 
soon be assumed by other and trusty hands, Rev. Seth 
B. Paddock, for whom I would bespeak the same 
patronage and favor that have been extended to me. 
I have thus written from its foundation the history 
of this Institution, — an Institution, the first that was 
established in this country under the entire control 
of Episcopalians, and among the first that received 
its charter from the legislature of Connecticut. For 
nearly half a century, albeit some adversities have 
intervened, it has held a prominent place in the pub- 
lic estimation. What its history will be when the 
future sons of the Church shall come up here, after 
the lapse of another fifty years, to celebrate its anni- 
versary, will depend not less on the character and 
fidelity of its Principals than on the spirit and liter- 
ary tendencies of the country. Though seminaries 
of learning of every description, from the humble 
District school up to the ample University, are daily 
multiplying, real ignorance is not, in our view, greatly 
diminished, nor are the ends of intellectual and moral 
culture fully subserved. The truth is, men in this 
country hurry to reap before the harvest is ripe. 
They cannot wait for the introduction of knowledge 
into the mind by the slow and sure process of patient 
study. It must be forced in at once, and the parent 
who submits to the expense of educating his son for 
a brief period, at an institution of the higher order, 
expects him, when he is removed, to possess a vast 
amount of book-learning for future use and future 
application. Living in a land of abounding plenty, 



40 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

we make haste to be rich, and whatever cannot, with 
an alchemist's power, be turned into gold is consid- 
ered as standing in the way of attaining the great 
end of our ambition. Wealth, rather than knowledge, 
is regarded as the grand promoter of human happi- 
ness and human greatness. It helps to prejudice the 
interests of solid learning that there is such a ten- 
dency in this precocious age to depart from the sim- 
plicity of ancient systems. Improvements in the 
plan of education we are willing to receive and en- 
courage, but untried theories and visionary specula- 
tions we have no wish to see fostered, even though 
beardless boys should prefer them to the time-hon- 
ored systems devised by the wisdom, and cherished 
by the zeal, of our ancestors. The great principles of 
education as established in England and this country 
are true, because they are founded in the nature of 
man, and as the elements of individual character do 
not essentially change, the same broad and general 
system that once worked well may ever be followed 
with profit and security. The time given to aca- 
demic studies in our country is too short, and the 
studies themselves are too numerous. A good scholar 
cannot be made in a day. The study of the Classics 
requires a long period of preparation, and though 
the stock of ideas that made up the culture of the 
ancients is gradually passing over into the general 
modes of modern thinking, no perfection in Greek 
and Roman Literature can be attained without lin- 
gering at the fountain where the waters are gushing 
pure. Many who pass for learned men live on the 
capital that others have amassed. Their knowledge 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 41 

is chiefly acquired from the reading of Eeviews and 
Encyclopedias and Classical Dictionaries. They hold 
no direct communion with the master minds of an- 
tiquity, and therefore are as men who seek to breathe 
the air of Ionia, while they live at a distance from 
her borders. 

It is an impediment to the cause of sound learning 
in these days, and one over which the instructor of 
youth will never cease to lament, that cheap period- 
icals and ephemeral publications are becoming so 
numerous and accessible. Modern literature throb- 
bing with present life, impassioned poetry, over- 
wrought sketches and sentimental romances, unreal 
history, and ill-prepared biography, — all these take 
hold of the youthful mind, and either unfit it for 
severer studies, or leave little room for their pursuit. 
The disposition to fritter away the time in light 
reading is beyond the control of the most indefati- 
gable teacher ; for parents themselves oftentimes pre- 
sent in their drawing-rooms, or furnish to their chil- 
dren, the very productions that prudence and Chris- 
tian morality would discard. Just enough of the 
Ancient Languages is acquired at most of our literary 
institutions to make students dislike them in after 
life. No abiding relish for classic studies is inspired, 
and, therefore, instead of imitating the example of 
Curran, and taking for his traveling companions 
Horace and Virgil, the scholar in these days provides 
himself with the last new publication to beguile the 
tedious hours of his journey. It may seem foreign 
from the purpose of this Address, to offer such reflec- 
tions, but the things to which I allude are " spots in 



42 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

our character," which bear upon the progress and en- 
couragement of sound learning. They will be min- 
gled with the future history of our schools and col- 
leges, and impair their prosperity, unless publicly 
reprobated and discountenanced. 

I cannot conclude my address without urging upon 
those who are permitted to enjoy the privileges of 
early academic instruction, the importance of wast- 
ing no moments in the fatal indulgence of literary 
dissipation. All the great and good men, whose 
characters have passed in review before us to-day, — 
indeed, all the great and good men of all times and 
countries were as industrious and studious in youth 
as they were honored and useful in age. During a 
period of six years, I have had under my charge, 
including those now present, about three hundred 
and fifty different pupils. I remember them all, and 
while some have taken an early descent to Avernus, 
and others are, I fear, fast treading in their footsteps, 
it is a gratification that there are those who promise, 
in due season, to reward a parent's solicitude and a 
teacher's care. These will soon begin to realize the 
truth of the old Greek proverb, that the root of 
education is bitter, while the fruit is sweet. My 
sympathies and regard will follow them into whatever 
distant sphere of usefulness the Providence of God 
may call them, and nothing will afford me so much 
delight in reflecting upon their success in after years, 
as to find that the instruction which they have here 
received has taken deep root, and given " shade and 
coolness " to them " in the dust and heat of public 
life." 



APPENDIX. 

Several of these proprietors were Congregationalists, — among whom 
Samuel A. Law deserves to be particularly mentioned. After graduating 
at Yale College, he returned to Cheshire, his native place, and opened 
a school of the higher order, and when the project was suggested of 
establishing an Episcopal Academy in this State, he proposed to make 
his School the nucleus of such an Institution, and went about from house 
to house, to interest the inhabitants of the town in favor of the measure. 
They did more for the Academy at the time of its establishment than 
they have done since, contributing $300 a year for the first five years, to 
support assistant instruction, besides sustaining other expenses, which 
reflected honor both on their benevolence and foresight. 

The first document on file in the office of the Secretary of State at 
Hartford is a record of the doings of a meeting; of the Board of Trus- 
tees, held at Cheshire, preparatory to their memorializing the General 
Assembly ; and the second, aside from its legislative character, throws 
much light upon the early history of the Institution. 

At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal Academy of the State of 
Connecticut, holden at Cheshire, on the \Ath day of April, 1801 : 

Resolved, — That a petition be preferred to the Honorable the General 
Assembly, to be holden at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, 
1801, praying that the Trustees of said Academy may be constituted 
and made a Body Politic and Corporate, by the Name of "the Trus- 
tees of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut," and, by that Name, that 
they and their Successors may have Perpetual Succession ; be capa- 
ble of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded in all Suits 
of any nature whatever ; may have a Common Seal ; purchase, receive, 
hold, and convey any Estate, Real or Personal ; may make By Laws for 
the regulation and Government of said Academy, not repugnant to the 
Laws of this State, of the United States, or of the Constitution of the 
Academy ; and that the Instructors and Students of the Academy may 
be exempted from Taxes on the Poll, from Military duties and working 
on Highways. 

And Resolved, also, — That the Right Rev. Abraham Jarvis, the Rev. 
Dr. John Bowden, and Burrage Beach, be authorized and fully em- 



44 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

powered to prefer said Petition in the name of the Trustees of said 
Academy, and to transact all matters relative to the same. 

Abraham Jarvis, President. 

John Bowden, Principal. 

Burrage Beach, Secretary. 

To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, now sitting at 
Hartford in said State : 

The Memorial of Abraham Jarvis, John Bowden, Richard Mansfield, 
Bela Hubbard, Ashbel Baldwin, Reuben Ives, Chauncey Prindle, Tillot- 
son Bronson, Calvin White, Samuel William Johnson, William Heron, 
John Morgan, Abijah Hull, Eli Curtis, Andrew Hull, Andrew Hull, Jr., 
William Law, Samuel A. Law, Thomas Atwater, Burrage Beach, and 
Moses Moss, inhabitants of said State, and Trustees of the Episcopal 
Academy of Connecticut, humbly showeth, — That, at a Convention of 
the Presbyters, Deacons, and Lay Delegates of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of Connecticut, holden at Cheshire, on the first day of June, 
a. d. 1796, it was resolved to institute an Academy, at said Cheshire, 
for the purpose of education ; and to that end a Constitution by the 
Convention aforesaid was instituted in manner and form following, viz. : 

Article I. The Academy established at Cheshire, by the Conven- 
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, shall be known by the name of 
the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut. 

Art. II. The government of the Academy shall be vested in the 
hands of twenty-one Trustees. Of which number shall be the Bishop 
of Connecticut, and the President of the Academy, ex officio, the other 
Trustees shall be chosen by the Convention, some of whom shall be 
Presbyters of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the remainder shall 
be Laymen, and may be elected from any denomination of professing 
Christians. 

Art. III. The Trustees shall continue in office during good behav- 
ior, and upon complaint may be displaced by a vote of the Convention. 

Art. IV. Nine of the Trustees shall form a Board, who shall meet 
at the Academy four times in each year, which shall be at the quarterly 
examinations. The President, or Vice-President, may call a meeting of 
the Trustees at any other time when they shall judge proper, or when a 
majority of the Trustees shall require it ; public notice thereof being 
given in one or more newspapers in this State, at least two weeks previ- 
ous to said meeting, by an advertisement signed by the Bishop, who 
shall be President, or the Principal of the Academy, who shall be Vice- 
President, of the Board of Trustees. 

Art. V. Every vacancy among the Trustees shall be filled by the 
Convention. 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 45 

Art. VI. The Principal of the Academy (who shall always be a 
Presbyter in the Protestant Episcopal Church) shall be elected by the 
Convention, and the Assistant, or Assistants, by the Trustees, and both 
shall be liable to be displaced by their respective electors, if convicted 
of immoral conduct or great neglect of duty. 

Art. VII. The English Language, Philosophy, Mathematics, His- 
tory, and every other science usually taught at Colleges [pursued] ; like- 
wise the Dead Languages, such as Greek and Latin. And whenever the 
finances of the Academy will admit, the Trustees shall procure an in- 
structor in the French Language, purchase a Library, Philosophical Ap- 
paratus, at their own discretion. Female education may be attended to 
under this Institution, by such instructors, and under such regulations, as 
the Trustees shall direct. 

Art. VIII. The Principal, or in his absence the Assistant, or As- 
sistants, shall examine and admit all persons into the Academy, accord- 
ing to his or their discretion ; provided no person be admitted but such 
as can read the English language intelligibly. And the Principal may, 
after admission, class as he pleases. Any person wishing to pursue a 
particular study, such as the Mathematics in its various branches, Logic, 
Rhetoric, Geography, Philosophy, etc., shall have an instruction of that 
kind, without pursuing any classic studies of a different nature. And 
the Principal may, at any time, with the advice of the Trustees, procure 
any gentleman, eminent in Divinity, Law, or Physic, to read lectures in 
those branches respectively, provided a fund be procured for that pur- 
pose. 

Art. IX. No By-Laws of the Academy shall compel the students to 
attend public worship, but at such places as their respective parents or 
guardians shall direct. 

Art. X. Whenever the foregoing articles shall be adopted by a vote 
of the Convention, they shall become the Constitution of the Episcopal 
Academy of Connecticut, and be subject to no revision or alteration, but 
by a vote of two thirds of the members of the Convention. 

That the said Convention, pursuant to the Constitution aforesaid, 
appointed the persons herein first named, as Trustees of said Academy, 
and the said John Bowden Principal thereof ; that a brick building for 
the accommodation of said Academy was erected by certain inhab- 
itants of Cheshire aforesaid, and a deed thereof was given by them to 
the Trustees aforesaid, and their successors in said office, for the use 
aforesaid ; that since said month of June, 1796, the Academy has been 
open for the reception of students, and has generally had in a course of 
education about sixty persons, from that period to the present. Your 
memorialists would state, that the funds of said Academy consist of 



46 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

bequests and donations to the amount of about three thousand dollars, — 
but that from the Trustees aforesaid not being incorporated, they ex- 
perience difficulties very injurious to the prosperity of said Academy ; 
that an act of incorporation, constituting the Trustees aforesaid (and 
their successors appointed to said offices pursuant to the Constitution 
aforesaid) a body, corporate and politic, [that] thereby they may [be] 
capable of suing and defending, of possessing, acquiring, receiving, 
granting, demising, and managing lands, hereditaments, goods, and 
chattels, for the benefit of said Academy, of ordaining by-laws for the 
instruction and education of the students, and ordering, governing, and 
managing said Academy and the affairs and things thereunto belonging, 
and thereby the lands and ratable estate of said Academy may be 
freed and exempted from all rates and taxes, and the officers and stu- 
dents in the same way be likewise freed and exempted from all rates, 
taxes, military service, and working at highways, is very desirable and 
necessary for the promotion of the interest of said Academy, of educa- 
tion, and of the State. 

Wherefore the Trustees aforesaid pray the Honorable Legislature to 
constitute them and their successors in office a body corporate and poli- 
tic, to be called and known by the name of The Trustees of the Episcopal 
Academy of Connecticut, with the powers above mentioned ; or in some 
other way grant them relief. And as in duty bound they will pray, etc. 

Dated Hartford, May 20, 1801. 

Abraham Jarvis, \ 

John Bowden, > for said Trustees. 

Burrage Beach, ) 

An Act incorporating the Trustees of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, 
passed May, 1801. 

Whereas, a Memorial of Abraham Jarvis and others, Trustees of the 
Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, has been preferred to this Assem- 
bly, showing that an Academy has been constituted at Cheshire, for the 
purpose of education, by a Convention of Presbyters, Deacons, and Lay 
Delegates of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and a 
Constitution framed, praying for an Act of incorporation as per Me- 
morial will at large appear, which memorial has been granted. 

Be it enacted by the Governor and Council, and House of Representa- 
tives, in General Court assembled, That Abraham Jarvis, John Bowden, 
Richard Mansfield, Bela Hubbard, Ashbel Baldwin, Reuben Ives, 
Chauncey Prindle, Tillotson Bronson, Calvin White, Samuel William 
Johnson, William Heron, John Morgan, Abijah Hull, Eli Curtis, Andrew 
Hull, Andrew Hull, Jr., William Law, Samuel A. Law, Thomas At- 
water, Burrage Beach, and Moses Moss, inhabitants of said State, shall 



EPISCOPAL ACADEMY. 47 

be an incorporate society, or body corporate and politic, and shall be 
hereafter called and known by the name of " The Trustees of the 
Episcopal A cademy of Connecticut ; ' ' and that by the same name they 
and their successors, elected pursuant to the Constitution aforesaid, 
shall and may have perpetual succession, and shall and may be persons 
capable in the law, to plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, 
and also to have, take, possess, acquire, parchase, or otherwise receive, 
lands, tenements, and hereditaments, goods, chattels, or other estate, to 
an amount not exceeding thirty thousand dollars, and the same to grant, 
demise, lease, use, manage, or improve, for the good and benefit of 
said Academy, according to the tenor of the donation and their discre- 
tion. 

That the Trustees of said Episcopal Academy shall and may hereafter 
have a common seal to serve and use for all causes, matters, and affairs 
of them and their successors, and the same to seal, to alter, break, and 
make new, as they shall think fit. 

That the Trustees of said Episcopal Academy for the time being shall 
have power from time to time, as occasion shall require, to make, ordain, 
and establish all such wholesome and reasonable By-Laws, rules, and 
ordinances not repugnant to the laws of this State, as they shall think 
fit and proper, for ruling and managing the said Academy, and all mat- 
ters and things thereunto belonging, and the same to repeal and alter as 
they shall think fit. 

That all the land and ratable [property] belonging, or that shall be- 
long, to said Academy, lying within this State, and the persons and 
families of the Principal and Professors, and their estates lying in said 
Cheshire, and the persons of the Tutors and Students, and such, and 
so many of the servants of said Academy, as give their constant attend- 
ance on the business of it, shall be freed and exempted from all rates, 
taxes, military service, and working on highways, provided, always, that 
any part of this Act, or any of the By-Laws which may be made by 
virtue thereof, may be revised, altered, or repealed at any time by the 
General Assembly. 

The prayer of the above Memorial was granted May 22, 1801, and the 
bill in form for incorporating the Academy, having previously passed the 
"Upper House," passed the "Lower House" May 30, 1801. From 
that moment the corporate existence of the Academy began. 

The original Constitution was amended in 1836 as follows : — 

Article I. The Academy established at Cheshire by the Conven- 
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church shall be known by the name of 
the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut. 



48 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Art. II. The Government of the Academy shall be vested in twenty- 
one Trustees, of which number shall be the Bishop of Connecticut, and 
the Principal of the Academy, ex officio. The other Trustees shall 
be chosen by the Convention, seven of whom shall be Presbyters of 
the Church, and the remainder Laymen, residing in the State of Con- 
necticut. 

Art. III. Whenever a Trustee shall remove out of the State, he 
shall cease to be a member of the Board ; and the seat of any Trustee 
may be declared vacant by the Convention, on his absenting himself 
from three successive meetings, or for any other cause satisfactory to 
the Convention. 

Art. IV. Five of the Trustees shall form a Board, who shall meet 
annually at the Academy. The President, or Vice-President, may call 
a meeting of the Trustees, at any other time when they shall deem it 
necessary, or when a majority of the Trustees shall require it ; public 
notice thereof being given in one or more newspapers in this State, at 
least two weeks previous to said meeting, by an advertisement signed by 
the Bishop, who shall be President, or by the Principal of the Academy, 
who shall be Vice-President, of the Board. 

Art. V. Every vacancy among the Trustees shall be filled by the 
Convention. 

Art. VI. The Principal of the Academy, who shall be a communi- 
cant in the Protestant Episcopal Church, shall be elected by the Board 
of Trustees, a majority of the Trustees for the time being concurring, 
and shall continue in office during their pleasure. But in all cases 
where a dissolution of the connection is contemplated, three months 
notice of such design shall be given by the party desiring it. 

Art. VII. The branches taught in the Academy shall be the 
Classics and the hio-her branches of English education, and the Acad- 
emy shall be designed exclusively for boys. 

Art. VIII. The Government of the Academy, and the appoint- 
ment of Assistants, shall be solely in the hands of the Principal ; pro- 
vided no Assistant shall be continued in office after the expression of a 
request on the part of the Trustees for his removal. 

Art. IX. No By-Law of the Academy shall compel the Students to 
attend public worship, but at such place or places as their respective 
parents or guardians shall direct. 

Art. X. Whenever the foregoing articles shall be adopted by a 
vote of the Convention, they shall become the Constitution of the Epis- 
copal Academy of Connecticut, and be subject to no revision or altera- 
tion but by a vote of the Convention. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

AT THE TWENTY -FIFTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF 
TRINITY COLLEGE, DELIVERED IN CHRIST CHURCH, 
HARTFORD, JULY 30, 1851. 

We have come up hither to celebrate the twenty- 
fifth annual Commencement of Trinity College. That 
some additional importance might be given to this 
festival by the gathering together of facts connected 
with its origin, and that new zeal might thereby be 
awakened for the advancement of the best interests 
of the Institution, the duty was imposed upon me, at 
the last annual meeting of the House of Convocation, 
to prepare a brief historical Address. In the accom- 
plishment of the honorable duty thus assigned me 
(which I consented to attempt at the latest moment), 
I have found myself laboring under a double disad- 
vantage. 

Trinity College has no antiquity. It wants the 
charm of venerable associations. The ivy has not 
been creeping so long upon its walls as to give them 
the complexion of age, nor have the steps which con- 
duct to its entrances been worn by the feet of succes- 
sive generations of scholars. There are no extraordi- 
nary statutes preserved in its archives to mark the 
usages of a less enlightened period ; no obsolete sys- 
tems of College discipline and College manners, con- 
trasting ludicrously with the gentler regulations and 



50 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

freer etiquette of the times in which we live. There 
are no treasures " laid up in old historic rolls," to be 
opened as the necessity requires ; no traditions and 
anecdotes, from the fund of which one may draw ma- 
terial to relieve the dullness of his discourse, and 
give emphasis and variety to the facts which he pre- 
sents. 

Intimately connected with this disadvantage is 
another. The immediate agents in procuring the 
charter of Trinity College, and they who have con- 
tributed most largely to make up its history, are still 
living, and it is not a little perilous to speak of their 
exertions and character with that freedom and full- 
ness which the occasion seems to demand. We under- 
take a nice and delicate business, if we attempt the 
narration of events associated with men who are yet 
upon the stage of being. For the most part, it is 
believed to be soon enough to scrutinize narrowly the 
policy of the presiding officers of academic institutions, 
when time has mellowed our prejudices and experi- 
ence corrected our mistakes; soon enough to write 
critically the history of scholars, when they have closed 
their labors and gone to their rest and reward. But 
embarrassing as these disadvantages have been, we 
are not without hope, that the Address which we have 
prepared will possess in your eyes an interest and a 
value. Though we have had both authentic records 
and the testimonies of the living to draw from, it has 
cost us more care to insure accuracy than was at first 
anticipated. 

I have said that Trinity College lacks the charm 
of venerable associations, but there is a link in its 




TRINITY COLLEGE. 51 

history reaching back more than half a century. For 
efforts which looked towards the establishment of a 
second College in Connecticut were put forth full 
thirty years before they were crowned with success. 
This second College was the conception of men who 
were not unmindful of the prejudices of early edu- 
cation. They imagined that they saw the danger of 
training their sons in academic halls where religious 
tests were exacted of the officers of instruction, or 
where these officers owed allegiance to a faith in many 
important respects different from their own. When 
Dean Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, returned 
to his native land, having failed in the object for 
which he came to this western world, his example, 
and the gift of his books and of his lands in Ehode 
Island to Yale College, were not lost to the cause of 
sound learning; and Christian education. His corre- 
spondence with Dr. Johnson, of Stratford, shows him 
to have been a man of large and liberal views. In a 
letter addressed to that learned divine and noble 
champion of the Church, dated July 25, 1751, — just 
a century ago, — he says, " I am glad to find by Mr. 
Clap's letter and the specimens of literature inclosed 
in his packet, that learning continues to make a pro- 
gress in Yale College, and hope that virtue and Chris- 
tian charity may keep pace with it." Whether Chris- 
tian charity did keep pace with it, we will leave you to 
determine by the citation of a few facts bearing upon 
the history of that period. Nearly all the clergy of 
the Episcopal Church who manifested a very decided 
friendliness to the welfare of the Institution at New 



52 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

time of the erection of King's (now Columbia) Col- 
lege, in the city of New York, with Dr. Johnson at its 
head, there seems to have been a change working 
in the minds of Churchmen. Was this change the 
result of legislation, or was it accidental ?- President 
Woolsey, in the Historical Discourse which he deliv- 
ered before the Alumni of Yale College at the annual 
Commencement, 1850, speaking of President Clap's 
administration, says : " The most characteristic meas- 
ure of this period was the appointment of a Professor 
of Theology, and the establishment of a separate re- 
ligious society and church in the College." And 
again, alluding to the act of the Trustees imposing a 
test upon the officers of instruction, " the aim of which 
was to maintain in their soundness the faith and 
church theory of the Puritans," he adds, " I can find 
no evidence from the College records that this test 
was applied for a number of years ; but am not dis- 
posed to think that it became obsolete. However this 
was, in 1753, when the project for establishing a Pro- 
fessor of Divinity was on foot, a new resolution of the 
Fellows required that members of their own body, 
with the President, the Professor of Divinity and 
Tutors, should give their assent to the Westminster 
Catechism and Confession of Faith, and should re- 
nounce all doctrines and principles contrary thereto, 
and pass through such an examination as the Corpo- 
ration should order. This new provision for securing 
orthodoxy was quite unacceptable to a number of 
educated persons in the Colony, and was one of the 
causes why President Clap was held in disesteem." 
It appears by reference to the Triennial Catalogue, 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 53 

that during the administration of President Clap, 
which covered a period of nearly thirty years, the 
number of graduates who became Episcopal clergy- 
men was scarcely greater than the number during 
the administration of his predecessor, which covered 
less than half the same period. The parishes in the 
mean time were multiplied in Connecticut, from vari- 
ous causes, and especially from the influence of White- 
field's preaching, and were scattered along the shore 
of the Sound, from Greenwich to Norwich, and far up 
among the hills and valleys of the interior. 

It may be said that King's College in New York 
drew off some students, but the steady and even rapid 
increase of Episcopalians — ceteris paribus — should 
have kept the number good. We believe that we 
may trace the diminution in a great measure to the 
want of that Christian charity which Dean Berkeley 
expressed the hope might keep pace with the progress 
of learning. We can forgive the rigorous enactments 
of a period when there was but one way of thinking in 
the Colony, and when it was the fault of the times to 
take a narrow view of the rights of conscience and 
of Christian liberty. We can almost forgive, — for 
we are persuaded that no one will defend them, look- 
ing back from the point of time on which we stand, — 
we can almost forgive those penal laws, dictated in a 
spirit of undiscovered intolerance, and designed for the 
manifest perpetuity of the Puritan faith. But after 
the number of Episcopal families had very largely in- 
creased in the Colony, and after a parish had been 
organized in New Haven, and a missionary of the 
Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 



54 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

in Foreign Parts had been stationed there, it would 
seem that out of respect for their wishes, and out of 
gratitude to clergymen of the Church of England for 
important services and benefactions, some relaxation 
of the rigor of these laws should have appeared, at 
least so far as not to fine Episcopal students for pre- 
ferring their own mode of worship on every Lord's 
day, 1 and not to require the classes, through the whole 
term of their college life, to recite the Westminster 
Confession of Faith, received and approved by the 
Churches in the Colony, together with Wollebius' 
Theologv or Dr. Ames' Medulla and Cases of Con- 
science. It was, then, the continuance in force of rig- 
orous enactments, and the adoption of new measures 
to guard the orthodoxy of the land, which opened the 
eyes of Churchmen to the necessity for an Institution 
more favorable to their views, or rather less dangerous 
to the religious predilections of their sons. The war 
of the Revolution operated disastrously upon the 
prosperity of the Church, and broke up our parishes in 
many places. But after civil liberty had been secured, 
and the Colonies separated from the mother country, 

1 The fine for absence from the College Chapel on Sundays was four 
'pence, but Episcopal students were allowed to attend their own Church 
on Communion Sundays. Professor Kingsley, in a note to me bearing 
upon this law, says : " When Archbishop Seeker published, in a pamphlet, 
that there was a College in New England (undoubtedly meaning Yale 
College) where an Episcopal student was fined for going on a Sunday to 
hear his own father preach, the fact probably was, and I heard it so 
explained many years ago, that the student was absent from the Chapel, 
was reported by the monitor, and fined for absence, — the reason of his 
absence being unknown to the College Faculty. You will not understand 
me as defending the law which required at that time, under the above 
penalty, all students to attend worship in the College Chapel, — except 
Episcopal students on Communion Sundays." 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 55 

the time was come for the Church, deprived of "nurs- 
ing care and protection" from abroad, to rely upon her 
own resources. And what could be done effectually 
towards increasing the scattered ranks of her ministry, 
except she threw off the shackles of Puritanism, and 
became independent in the matter of Collegiate edu- 
cation ? Hence it was one of the earliest movements 
of Bishop Seabury and his Clergy, after the Kevolu- 
tion, to plant a Seminary of classic learning in this 
Diocese. The Institution at Cheshire owes its origin 
to a resolution adopted by them in 1792, and for a 
series of years it served, in some measure, the double 
purpose of a preparatory school and a university. In 
1801, having obtained bequests and donations to the 
amount of about $3,000, its managers preferred a pe- 
tition to the General Assembly, u praying that they 
might be constituted and made a body politic and 
corporate, by the name of the Trustees of the Episco- 
pal Academy of Connecticut." The act of incorpora- 
tion was passed, but it does not seem to have come 
up to the full intention of the founders, for, three 
years afterwards, in accordance with a vote of the 
Diocesan Convention, the Board of Trustees peti- 
tioned the General Assembly for a charter, empower- 
ing them to confer degrees in the arts, divinity and 
law, and to enjoy all other privileges usually granted 
to colleges. This petition was refused, and we find 
them instructed to continue their importunity, by the 
following preamble and resolution, entered upon the 
Diocesan Journal for 1810 : — ■ 

" Whereas doubts have arisen whether the Trus- 
tees of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, which 



56 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

was established at Cheshire by this Convention in the 
year 1796, are invested with the power of conferring 
upon the students the degree and testimonials of lit- 
erary proficiency usually granted at Colleges ; and 
whereas the great objects contemplated by the Con- 
vention cannot be accomplished unless the Trustees 
are authorized to confer such degrees; therefore 

" Resolved, That the Trustees of said Academy be 
requested to prefer a petition to the next General 
Assembly of the State of Connecticut, with all the 
powers, privileges, and immunities of a College." 

The application, urged with such sanction, was sup- 
ported by a large majority in one branch of the Leg- 
islature, but the Council, or Senate, opposed to the 
action of the lower House a full negative, and thus 
defeated the charter. In 1811, the General Conven- 
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, understand- 
ing that the establishment of a second College in 
Connecticut, under the auspices of Episcopalians, was 
contemplated, expressed their entire approbation of 
the measure, and their earnest wishes for its success. 
At that time, there was not a College in the Union 
under the direct care and superintendence of the 
Church, — not even Columbia in New York, — and if 
reliance can be placed upon the truth of history, some 
cautious measures had been taken to keep in other 
hands the control of existing Institutions. Another 
application to the General Assembly for a charter fol- 
lowed, and was rejected by both branches of the same, 
thereby showing no gain to the Church in legislative 
influence. During the vacancy in the Episcopate from 
the death of Bishop Jarvis, all effort to secure the long- 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 57 

cherished object was suspended, but the clergy kept 
it in view, and would have resumed it immediately 
after the consecration of the present venerated and 
beloved Diocesan, 1 had not the location of the General 
Theological Seminary at New Haven drawn off their 
thoughts and support. The return of that Institution 
to New York was the signal for fresh exertions, and 
fortunately the intervening period of their quiet had 
witnessed important political changes, — such as the 
adoption of the State Constitution, and the consequent 
breaking down of the reigning dynasty, — changes 
which undoubtedly prepared the way for more liberal 
legislation. In 1823, the petition of Episcopalians, 
setting forth " the expediency of attempting to estab- 
lish another Collegiate Institution in this State," and 
urging their claims to have the direction of its ad- 
ministration, was presented to the Legislature, and a 
charmed political name, rather than the name of the 
first Bishop of the Diocese, inserted, we suppose, in 
the bill for a charter, that nothing might be done to 
peril its passage. The charter was granted, taking 
effect from the time when $30,000 should be sub- 
scribed as an endowment, and the event was wel- 
comed in this city, where the Legislature was holding 
its session, with demonstrations of great rejoicing. 
Though given upon the prayer of Episcopalians, and 
contemplating their management, the charter, as the 
petitioners wished, required that the College should 
be conducted on the broad principles of religious lib- 
erty. 2 It contained a provision, prohibiting the Trus- 
tees from passing any ordinance or by-law that should 

1 Bishop T. C. Brownell. 2 See Appendix. 



58 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

make the religious tenets of any officer or student in 
the College a test or qualification of employment or 
admission. And here it may be observed that up to 
the very day before the petition for this charter was 
presented to the Legislature, the statute of Yale Col- 
lege in reference to tests — modified upon the acces- 
sion of Dr. Stiles to the Presidency, from consent to 
the Westminster Catechism and Confession of Faith 
into an assent to the Saybrook Platform — was still 
in force. That day, at a special meeting of the cor- 
poration, held in the city of Hartford, the obnoxious 
test law was repealed. There are those who think 
the time was thus critically chosen for its repeal, that 
an influence might be brought to bear upon the minds 
of the liberal legislature, touching the petition for a 
second College. But let this pass without further 
remark. No sooner was this charter granted than its 
friends, who had been so long contending with the 
evils of popular prejudice, were now compelled to 
contend with the evils of poverty and other discour- 
aging causes. The amount necessary to secure the 
provisions of the charter was, indeed, over-subscribed, 
for within one year from its date about fifty thousand 
dollars were raised by private subscription for an 
endowment. This noble subscription was obtained 
by offering to the larger towns the privilege of fair 
and laudable competition for its location, and Hart- 
ford, never wanting in public spirit and generous out- 
lays, gained the victory over her sister cities. The 
erection of the College buildings was commenced in 
June, 1824, and the business of instruction in Septem- 
ber of the same year. But the funds subscribed were 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 59 

barely adequate to this beginning. The Trustees 
had already deputed one of their number to visit 
England, and solicit donations towards the supply of 
a Library and Philosophical apparatus. He carried 
with him an Address or general letter of introduc- 
tion, officially signed, and directed to the Bishops, 
Clergy, and Laity of the Church of England. It does 
not appear to have been the original intention to 
give much publicity to the object of this mission, but 
on the arrival of the agent, he found himself in the 
way of other applications from this country for simi- 
lar aid, and he was induced to print the letter, to- 
gether with a statement of his own, setting forth the 
necessities of the Church here and the more important 
facts in regard to the condition of the two oldest 
Xew England Colleges. The a^ent returned to this 

coo 

country, with the donations which he had received, 
soon enough to be a conspicuous and fearless actor in 
that war of pamphlets which arose from i; Considera- 
tions suggested by the establishment of a second Col- 
lege in Connecticut." ! It was claimed to be uncalled 
for by the interests of literature. After the zealous 
endeavors which had been used in various sections 
of the State to prevent the subscription papers from 
being filled up in order that the charter might be 
secured, it was perhaps to be expected that other 
attempts would be made to interfere with its success, 
but these attempts were carried quite too far, when 
it was represented that two large and respectable 
Institutions could not exist together in so small a terri- 

o 

1 This was the title of the first anonymous pamphlet, which was 
replied to anonymously, and then a rejoinder followed. 



60 



ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 



tory ; that this College could only rise into distinction 
and usefulness by depressing Yale in the same ratio ; 
that the tendency of its establishment would be to 
dissipate our strength and divide one prosperous uni- 
versity into two weak and languishing seminaries, 
and thus to " loiver the standard of literary attainments, 
while the total expense of education to the State was 
augmented." Events have proved that fears of this 
sort were wholly groundless. No College in the Union 
has had a higher reputation for the thoroughness of 
its course and the scholarship of its Faculty than 
Trinity. So far from having the effect to reduce the 
numbers at Yale College, these numbers have actu- 
ally increased, and, as to diverting the patronage of 
the Church, while I write there are some seventy-five 
students seeking an education at that ancient seat of 
learning who have come from Episcopal families, or 
from families having preferences for the Episcopal 
mode of worship. Nor is this all. Midway between 
the two capitals of the State a third Collegiate Insti- 
tution 1 has been erected and endowed by private and 
State beneficence, for the benefit of a denomination 
of Christians, not disposed until recently to pay very 
profound respect to an educated ministry. Opposi- 
tion, based on reasoning which has proved thus falla- 
cious, could not prevail. The College survived it, and 
it did not sicken and die when the State afterwards 
refused to feed it with a tithe of the bounty which 
had been bestowed upon the venerable sister. Its 
first President was he who scarcely needed a formal 

1 The Wesleyan University at Middletown, under the control of the 
Methodists. 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 61 

vote to be placed in that office. He was the Bishop 
of the Diocese, and had been charged with the pres- 
entation of the petition to the Honorable Legislature. 
He had watched its progress with solicitude, and wit- 
nessed its success with delight. Long experience in 
Academic discipline had made him acquainted with 
the responsibilities of the office, and for seven years he 
filled it with a wisdom which the seventy-nine gradu- 
ates of that period will never cease to remember. He 
was withdrawn from the administration at the instance 
of the Diocese, when the cares of the Episcopate were 
increasing. with the increase of the Church, and claim- 
ing his undivided time and attention. His " Farewell 
Address," delivered to the students upon the occasion 
of retiring from the Presidency, opens with a passage 
rich in tender associations : — 

u The time is at hand when I am to retire from the 
immediate charge of this Institution. It is an event 
which I cannot contemplate without some emotion. 
Having made the first movements for the establish- 
ment of the College ; having been engaged with great 
solicitude in all the measures for procuring its char- 
ter ; for raising the funds for its endowment ; for 
framing the laws for its organization and government ; 
having presided over the instruction and discipline 
which has been dispensed in it, from its origin to the 
present time, it is naturally to be expected that my 
feelings should be strongly identified with its interests 
and its prospects." 

Upon the retirement of Bishop Brownell from the 
Presidency, the choice for a successor fell upon the 
Rev. Dr. Wheaton, another fast friend to the Institu- 



62 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

tion, and one who could say in reference to its earlier 
trials, — 

Quorum pars magna fui. 

But hardly had one lustrum passed away before he 
vacated the Presidential chair, and removed to New 
Orleans that he might accept the Rectorship of Christ 
Church in that city. During his administration, 
which ended in 1837, the financial condition of the 
College was greatly improved. Through the indefat- 
igable exertions of the President, the Hobart Pro- 
fessorship of Belles-Lettres and Oratory was insti- 
tuted, and endowed with funds to the amount of 
$20,000, contributed by friends in New York. The 
Seabury Professorship was also commenced, and large 
additions were made to the general funds of the 
Institution, so that, when he withdrew from its 
charge, he had laid the foundation for a system of 
judicious endowments, which his own private bene- 
factions, subsequently yet unostentatiously bestowed, 
have helped to foster. 1 

Frequent changes in the Presidency of a College 
are always to be avoided, because always injurious 
to its prosperity. Care should be taken to select for 
that office men who are fitted to its responsibilities 

1 -The grounds about the College are beautiful by nature, but from the 
first, great attention was paid to their improvement by the planting of 
hedges, shrubbery, and trees. An eye seems to have been turned to the 
moral influence of such things, in the elevation and refinement of taste 
and manners. Dr. Wheaton deserves many thanks for what he did in 
this way. 

The site was sold by the Corporation March 21, 1872, to the city of 
Hartford for a State House, and a large tract of land purchased, about 
one mile and a half distant, on which very expensive College build- 
ings have since been erected. 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 63 

and duties by experience and attainment, and then 
none but the best reasons should be allowed to pro- 
duce a dissolution of the connection. The Trustees 
resolved at length to fill the vacancy occasioned by 
the resignation of Dr. Wheaton with one who, though 
he had gained no celebrity in the Church, had yet 
proved himself eminently successful in one depart- 
ment of the College. Thus they chose their own Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, the 
Rev. Silas Totten, D. D. His faithful Presidency 
extended beyond a decade of years, the most remark- 
able features of which relate to the internal organiza- 
tion and condition of the College, and to the erection 
of Brownell Hall in 1845. 1 That same year, also, an 
act of the Legislature was passed, permitting an impor- 
tant change in the name and style of the Institution, 
— a change which we hope in God will "attest forever 
the faith of its founders, and their zeal for the perpet- 
ual glory and honor of the one holy and undivided 
Trinity." If it be true that he who first turned the 
minds of his Clergy to the establishment of a Sem- 
inary for education on the principles of the Church 
did foresee, with dim and fearful vision, that the time 
would come when this very doctrine would be exten- 
sively corrupted and denied in New England, then it 
had been no greater mark of veneration for his mem- 
ory to give the College his own name than to give it a 
title which represented the glorious doctrine in whose 
defense he wished it to be understood that to the last 

1 The Seabury Professorship was filled up during the administration 
of Dr. Totten, and besides the funds contributed to the erection of 
Brownell Hall, sums requisite to the endowment of several Scholarships 
were subscribed in the Diocese of Connecticut. 



64 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

he lifted up his voice. Long may this Institution 
send forth sons trained to resist the advancement of a 
heresy so opposed to the simple truth of God, as the 
denial in their proper and Scriptural acceptation of 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Long may she be 
a stranger to the spirit of reckless religious specula- 
tion ; a stranger to all that teaching and ensnaring 
philosophy which does but wrap the soul in skepti- 
cism, and prepare the way for a complete surrender 
of the " faith once delivered to the Saints." 

While Dr. Totten occupied the Presidential chair, 
the Trustees enacted certain statutes, " committing 
the superintendence of the course of study and disci- 
pline to a Board of Fellows," and empowering speci- 
fied members of the Senatus Academicus, as the House 
of Convocation, to assemble under their own rules, 
and to consult and advise for the interests and benefit 
of the College. Time enough has not been given 
to these changes to reap from them much advantage. 
They were modeled after the English Universities. 

" There has been, as we trust, revived among us," 
said he who had the honor of pronouncing the first 
Address before the House of Convocation, 1 "some- 
thing of the old and true principle of the University. 
Not, indeed, in its ancient form, nor in precisely the 
ancient mode of its expression. For it may and often 
does chance that a principle shall express itself in 
diverse outward forms in different ages, while yet in 
itself it remains unchanged. Indeed, no external 
organizations or forms within which principles are 
enshrined — save only those which, being of divine 

1 Rev. John Williams, D. D., President of the College. 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 65 

appointment, are adapted to every age, and not to be 
changed by man — can be expected to remain pre- 
cisely the same, generation after generation, and age 
after age. For they exist in a world whose social and 
intellectual relations are continually changing ; and, 
by those very changes, demanding corresponding 
changes in those external modes by which unchanging 
principles are brought to bear and do their work, 
whether on individuals or on masses of our race." 

The changes referred to in this passage were de- 
signed, among other things, to retain the graduates 
in closer connection with their Alma Mater, by giving 
them a definite and fractional participation in its man- 
agement. We have great faith in any policy which 
tends to secure to the College the abiding interest 
and affections of the Alumni. Hence one fact, dis- 
covered in searching the records for the material of 
this Address, has greatly surprised us. Twenty-eight 
years have rolled away since the charter was granted, 
and of the Trustees who originally composed the 
Board, but three, setting aside the Chancellor, have 
survived all change, and retained their places as 
members of the Corporation. The surprising fact is 
that, until this day, 1 not a solitary Alumnus has been 
selected to fill any one of the several vacancies which 
have thus from time to time occurred. 

But upon the resignation of Dr. Totten, it was a 
subject of thankfulness and joy among the Alumni of 
the Institution that one of their own number was 

1 At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, held in the morning of the 
day when this Address was delivered, the author was elected a member 
of the Corporation. 
5 



66 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

invited to take his responsibilities and carry on the 
work of Christian education. I shall not be trench- 
ing upon the sacred prerogatives of private and per- 
sonal history, if I mention an interesting circumstance 
associated with the office thus bestowed. The fourth 
President of Yale College, counting the Eectorate 
of Samuel Andrew, was the Eev. Elisha Williams, of 
Newington, "a man of splendor," says Dr. Stiles in 
his Diary, " who filled his chair with great usefulness 
and power for thirteen years," and then resigned it, 
devoting himself with singular versatility of talent to 
legislation, jurisprudence, the army, and lastly to mer- 
cantile pursuits. Tradition represents him to have 
been a sturdy defender of the Puritan faith, as well 
as a good hater of Episcopacy, and it is not improb- 
able that he was elected to the office of President, with 
an eye to the astounding and painful defection of Dr. 
Cutler and his associates. 

The fourth President of Trinity College has the 
blood of Rector Williams flowing in his veins, though 
he wants the Baptismal name of his kinsman. He 
has broken away in peacefulness and love from the 
ranks of the Pilgrims, and been placed in an impor- 
tant position of the Church, to guard and foster those 
distinctive religious principles which his renowned 
and " splendid " ancestor was so zealous to oppose 
and repress. Aye, more ! while years were gathering 
upon him whom we all delight to honor, and " around 
whose venerable presence cluster, for so many of us, 
the deepest, holiest memories of all our lives, the 
memories of vows uttered on earth and registered in 
heaven;" while years were gathering upon him a 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 67 

weight of infirmities insupportable with the full cares 
of the Episcopate, he called in kindness for some one 
upon whose shoulders he might lay a portion of his 
responsibilities and his duties; and thereupon the 
Diocese, with almost entire unanimity, elected to the 
office of a Bishop in the Church of the living God, the 
Reverend, the President of Trinity College. 1 

Here I might close my Address, and leave to the 
future historian the recital of much that is unbecom- 
ing now to utter. But before I conclude, let me 
direct your attention to one important object which 
the establishment of the College was designed to pro- 
mote, and which, thanks be to God, it has promoted 
in an eminent degree. I refer to the education and 
training of young men for the ministry of the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church, to say nothing about the zeal- 
ous and intelligent laymen who have here passed 
through their course of Collegiate instruction. When 
Dr. Wheaton visited England to solicit friendly assist- 
ance from the Church in that realm, he set forth in 
his published statement the following among other 
facts : — 

" The number of organized Episcopal congregations 
in the States falls but little short of six hundred while 
the Clergymen engaged in actual parochial duty do 
not at present exceed half that number. It is pleas- 
ing to record the gradual extinction of those invet- 
erate prejudices against Episcopacy, which distin- 
guished the first settlers of the country, especially in 
those parts where the Church has been advanta- 

1 The Rev. Dr. Williams was elected Assistant Bishop of the Diocese 
of Connecticut, June 11, 1851. 



68 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

geously made known by her more intelligent minis- 
ters. The candid and moderate, belonging to the vari- 
ous sects, appalled at the enormous strides of heresy, 
are visibly becoming more reconciled to the Church, 
whose temperate doctrines, consistent government, 
and edifying mode of worship, present a, common 
ground of union not to be found within the pale of 
.any of the classes of Dissenters (that is, Sectarians). 
Nothing, indeed, seems to be wanting to a general ex- 
itension of the Episcopal Church but a body of zealous, 
well-educated Clergy far more numerous than, with her 
present advantages, it is possible for her to possess." 

This was said, you will remember, twenty-seven 
years ago, and within that period Trinity College has 
educated more than one third as many Clergymen as 
were then engaged in actual parochial duty. They 
have radiated in all directions of our country, and car- 
ried with them an influence which is not only impress- 
ing itself upon the minds of men for the good of the 
Church, but which will, we trust, in due season reflect 
back upon the Institution where they were trained 
to become Christian scholars. The originator of our 
Mission to China was a graduate of Trinity College; 1 
though God in His inscrutable Providence was 
pleased to lay upon him so early the hand of disease 
and death, that he was debarred the privilege of 
beginning the work which his zealous heart had pro- 
jected. The first pioneer of the Church in the broad 
territory which lies on the Gulf of Mexico beyond the 
Mississippi River, and which has since become an in- 

1 The Rev. Augustus Foster Lyde, who died in Philadelphia, soon 
after his ordination. 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 69 

tegral part of the Union, was a graduate of Trinity 
College/ who, two years ago, with failing health, left 
his lone post of duty, just soon enough to reach the 
green hills of his native land, and die. But I must not 
make a Missionary argument in a literary address. I 
was desirous of showing that in one important respect 
the College has done for the Church what its founders 
and friends predicted and prayed that it would do. It 
has increased the ranks of her ministry. It has edu- 
cated for the clerical profession a number nearly equai 
to the aggregate of students who received their diplo- 
mas from Yale College in the first twenty-five years of 
her existence. Having done, therefore, so much for 
education in the Church, need we be impatient for 
the rest? Need we really be disheartened if, year by 
year, the College Calendar shows a list not numer- 
ous ; if, for the next generation, no throng of pupils 
shall gather within these walls such as may crowd the 
benches of older seats of learning ? Numbers are not 
the certain test of academic efficiency, nor will they 
always come at the bidding of scholarship and the 
best privileges of literature. Oh be content, each 
friend of Trinity College, to say in reference to its 
prosperity : " Because of the house of the Lord our 
God," because of the service rendered and yet to be 
rendered to the Church, "I will seek to do thee good." 
The more venerable Institutions of the land have 
their thousands of living Alumni, on whom they may 
call for succor in times of emergency, of poverty and 
peril. I look for more than proportionate aid from 

1 Rev. Caleb S. Ives, Missionary at Matagorda, Texas, who died in 
Vermont. 



70 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

kindred sources. I look along the lines of futurity, 
and I seem to see the wealth of the Church in New 
England coming up with a holocaust to be laid on the 
altar of this Institution, — an Institution, as its motto 
imports, created alike for the good of the Church, 
and of the land : " Pro ecclesia et patria." I seem to 
hear, taken upon the lips of grateful scholars, and sent 
forward through all time, the names of noble bene- 
factors, who, in winding up the stewardship of life, 
have not failed to remember the just claims of Chris- 
tian education, and so, with cheerful munificence? 
have directed the endowment of new and needed Pro- 
fessorships. I seem to see the sons of Trinity — each 
one in his sphere of life, be it humble or be it exalted 
— vieing with the zealous Alumni of an honored sis- 
ter in ministries of good to mankind ; resisting with 
a firm front the advance of error and the showings of 
a spirit more liberal than the spirit of Christianity; 
seeking as one of the truest ends of learning the 
inculcation of holiness and benevolence ; and guard- 
ing in all honorable and legitimate ways that body of 
Christ, which is the Church ; which holds the faith 
once delivered to the Saints, and which promises 
blessings to the children of the righteous in far distant 
generations. God grant that these visions may be 
realized, and when the century has closed, and you 
and I have closed the activities of human life, may 
that other generation of men who shall come up here 
to celebrate the return of this anniversary be all that 
we could desire : the honest, earnest, uncompromis- 
ing advocates of true religion, sound literature, and 
wise government. 



APPENDIX. 



PETITION FOR THE INCOPORATION OF WASHINGTON 

COLLEGE. 

To the Honorable, the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, to be holden 
at Hartford on the first Wednesday in May, 1823. 

We the undersigned, convinced of the expediency of attempting to 
establish another Collegiate Institution in this State, and entertaining the 
belief that such an Institution would meet with a liberal patronage, beg 
leave respectfully to submit our wishes and views to the consideration 
of your honorable body. 

We are aware of the great benefits which have resulted to this State 
and to the general interests of Literature, from the important Literary 
Institution at New Haven, and we have no wish to lessen its future use- 
fulness by our present application. 

We are members of the Protestant Episcopal Church; a denomina- 
tion of Christians considerable for their numbers and resources in our 
country ; and we beg leave to represent, that while all other religious 
denominations in the Union have their Universities and Colleges under 
their influence and direction, there is not a single Institution of this kind 
under the special patronage and guardianship of Episcopalians. It cannot 
be doubted but that such an Institution will be established, in some part 
of our country, at no distant period ; and we are desirous that the State 
of Connecticut shall have the benefit of its location. 

As Episcopalians, we do not ask for any exclusive privileges, but we 
desire to be placed on the same footing with other denominations of 
Christians. 

Though a parent may not be over-solicitous to have his children 
educated in a servile acquiescence with his peculiar religious views, yet 
he will be reluctant to place them in situations where they will be likely 
to acquire a strong bias against his own principles. If it should be 
thought expedient to establish a new College, your memorialists are 
desirous that it should be conducted on broad principles of religious 



72 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

toleration, and that Christianity should be exhibited in it, as it is in the 
Gospel, — unincumbered with metaphysical subtilties, and unimpaired by 
any false liberality, or refined explanations, which would divest it of 
some of its fairest characteristics. 

When we consider the rapid increase of the population of this coun- 
try, and the growing demand for the facilities of public education, it is 
manifest that the present provisions for this object are becoming inade- 
quate. Accordingly, we see our sister States, with a wise policy, encour- 
aging the erection of new Seminaries within their limits, for the purpose 
of securing to themselves the benefits which naturally flow from them. 
Should the inhabitants of the South and the West continue to rely 
chiefly on the Colleges of New England for the education of their sons, 
as it seems likely they will do, it surely ought to be the policy, as it is 
unquestionably the interest, of Connecticut to multiply attractions of a 
literary nature. Perhaps the present College in this State already num- 
bers as many pupils as can either be instructed, or governed to advantage, 
in one Institution. But however this may be, we are persuaded that if 
your Honors should think fit to grant our present request, funds, to a con- 
siderable amount, would be raised, which otherwise would not be appro- 
priated to the support of literature at all, or would be devoted to the 
endowment of a College in some other part of the Union. 

When compared with some of her sister States, Connecticut possesses 
but a moderate extent of territory, limited resources, and a circumscribed 
population ; but she may easily become preeminent by the number and 
importance of her literary institutions. Recommended by the general 
intelligence of her citizens, moderate habits, cheapness of living, and ease 
of access, it only requires that she should extend and foster her Literary 
Institutions, to attract the youth from every part of our country ; to acquire 
an influence and importance in the Union, which her physical resources 
deny to her ; to become the seat of science and literature, — the Athens 
of our Republic. 

Your memorialists conclude with humbly praying this Honorable 
General Assembly to grant them an Act of Incorporation for a College, 
with power to confer the usual literary honors ; to be placed in either 
of the Cities of Hartford, Middletown, or New Haven, according to 
the discretion of the Trustees, who may be appointed by your honor- 
able body : which act of Incorporation shall take effect whenever Funds 
shall be raised for the endowment of the Institution, to the amount of 
Thirty Thousand Dollars, and not before. And your memorialists further 
pray, that the said Trustees may have leave to appropriate to the 
endowment of the Institution such portion of the Funds of the Episcopal 
Academy at Cheshire, or the income thereof, as in their discretion they 
may think expedient, provided the consent of the Trustees of said 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 73 

Academy be first obtained, and that no portion of the Funds contributed 
by the inhabitants of Cheshire be removed. 

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. 



CIRCULAR LETTER ACCOMPANYING THE PETITION. 

New Haven, March 20, 1823. 
Sir, — The Committee appointed to prepare a Memorial to the Legis- 
lature of this State, for the incorporation of a new College, have attended 
to that duty, and herewith forward you a copy of the same, which you 
are requested to circulate for subscription, through your Parish. Simi- 
lar copies have been forwarded to every Parish in the Diocese, and it is 
expected that they will be signed by all the Episcopal Clergy, and by 
every male Episcopalian of lawful age. If anything should prevent you 
from attending to this business personally in your parish, the Committee 
will rely upon your procuring some other proper person to perform the 
duty. After the signatures are obtained, it is requested that the Memo- 
rials be returned to Charles Sigourney, Esq., Hartford. It is desirable 
that they should be in his hands by the Jlrst day of the session of the 
Legislature, and if no earlier private opportunity should offer, the Rep- 
resentatives from the several towns will afford very suitable means of 
conveyance. 

With great respect, 

Your obedient Servant, 

T. C. Brownell, Chairman of the Committee. 

CHARTER OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 

Whereas sundry inhabitants of this State, of the denomination of 
Christians called The Protestant Episcopal Church, have represented, by 
their petition addressed to the General Assembly, that great advantages 
would accrue to the State, as well as to the general interests of literature 
and science, by establishing within the State another Collegiate Institu- 
tion, therefore, 

Resolved by this Assembly, That Thomas C. Brownell, Harry Croswell, 
Elijah Boardman, Samuel W. Johnson, Birdsey G. Noble, Samuel Mer- 
win, Nathaniel S. Wheaton, Elisha Cushman, Charles Sigourney, 
Thomas Macdonough, Richard Adams, David Watkinson, Ebenezer 
Young, Jonathan Starr, Jr., Nathan Smith, John Thompson Peters, Asa 
Chapman, Elias Perkins, John S. Peters, and Luther Loomis, and their 
successors be, and the same hereby are constituted, a body politic and 
corporate forever, by the name of the " Trustees of Washington Col- 
lege," and by that name shall and may have continual succession here- 



74 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

after, and shall be able in law to sue and be sued, implead and be 
impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in 
all courts and places whatsoever, and may have a common seal, and may 
change and alter the same at their pleasure ; and also shall be able in 
law to take by purchase, gift, grant, devise, or in any other manner, and 
to hold any real and personal estate whatsoever ; Provided always, That 
the clear yearly value of the real estate to be so acquired shall not exceed 
the sum of fifteen thousand dollars; and also that they and their succes- 
sors shall have power to give, grant, bargain, sell, convey, or other- 
wise dispose of, all or any part of the said real and personal estate, as to 
them shall seem best for the interest of said College. 

II. Resolved, That the said Trustees and their successors shall forever 
hereafter have full power and authority to direct and manage the Funds 
for the benefit of the Institution, and also to prescribe and direct the 
course of study, and the discipline to be observed in the said College, 
and also to elect from their own number, or otherwise, a Board or Com- 
mittee, to be called the Fellows of the College, to whom they may commit 
the superintendence of the course of study and discipline ; and also to 
select and appoint a President of the said College, and such Professor 
or Professors, Tutor or Tutors, to assist the President in the govern- 
ment and education of the Students belonging to the said College, and 
such other officer or officers as to the said Trustees shall seem meet, all 
of whom shall hold their office during the pleasure of the Trustees ; 
Provided always, That no President shall be dismissed by the Trustees 
without cause, previously stated to him in writing, and a full opportunity 
allowed him for his defense, and by the concurrence of at least two thirds 
of the Trustees ; and Provided further, That no Professor, Tutor, or other 
assistant officer shall be eligible to the office of a Trustee. 

III. Resolved, That any five of the said Trustees, lawfully convened as 
hereinafter directed, shall be a quorum for the dispatch of all business, 
except for the disposal of real estate, or for the choice of a President, or 
for the election of Trustees, for either of which purposes there shall be 
at least a majority of the whole number of Trustees. 

IV. Resolved, That the President of the College shall always be, 
ex-officio, a member of the Board of Trustees, and Chairman or Presi- 
dent of the same, and that a Secretary of the Board shall be elected by 
the Trustees, to hold his office during their pleasure. 

V. Resolved, That the said Trustees shall have power to increase their 
number from time to time, at their discretion, to the number of twenty- 
four; and they shall also have power, by a majority of votes of the mem- 
bers present, to elect and appoint, upon the death, removal out of the 
State, or other vacancy of the place or places of any Trustee or Trustees 
other or others in his or their places or stead, as often as such vacancy 



TRINITY COLLEGE. 75 

shall happen ; and also to make and declare vacant the seat of any 
Trustee who shall absent himself for any term of two years, or from any 
four successive meetings duly notified ; and they shall also have power 
to meet from time to time upon their own adjournment, and so often as 
they shall be summoned by their Chairman or President or, in his 
absence, by the Senior Trustee, whose Seniority shall be accounted 
according to the order in which the said Trustees are named in this act, 
and shall be elected hereafter ; Provided always, That the said Chair- 
man, or President, or the Senior Trustee, shall not summon a meeting of 
the Corporation, unless required thereto in writing, by three of the mem- 
bers ; and Provided also, That he cause notice of the time and place of 
the said meeting to be given in such manner as the Trustees shall in their 
By-Laws prescribe. 

VI. Resolved, That the said Trustees and their successors shall have 
power and authority to grant all such literary Honors and Degrees as 
are usually granted by any University, College, or Seminary of learning 
in this State, or in the United States ; and, in testimony of such grant, 
to give suitable Diplomas, under their seal and the signatures of the 
President and Secretary of the Board, which Diplomas shall entitle the 
possessors respectively to all the immunities and privileges which, either 
by usage or by statute, are allowed to possessors of similar Diplomas from 
any other University, College, or Seminary of learning. 

VII. Resolved, That the said Trustees and their successors shall have 
full power and authority to make all ordinances and By-Laws which to 
them shall seem expedient, for carrying into effect the designs of their 
Institution ; Provided always, that such ordinances or By-Laws shall not 
make the religious tenets of any person a condition of admission to any 
privilege in the said College, and that no President or Professor, or other 
officer, shall be made ineligible for or by reason of any religious tenet 
that he may profess, or be compelled, by any By-Law or otherwise, to 
subscribe to any religious test whatsoever ; and Provided also, That none 
of the By-Laws as aforesaid shall be inconsistent with the Constitution 
and Laws of this State, or with the Constitution and Laws of the United 
States. 

VIII. Resolved, That the Funds which may at any time belong to the 
Institution now incorporated shall enjoy the like exemptions from taxa- 
tion, and the Institution itself, and its officers, shall enjoy the same priv- 
ileges and exemptions, as have already been granted, or may hereafter 
be granted, to Yale College, its officers, and its Funds. 

IX. Resolved, That whenever Funds shall be contributed or secured to 
the said College, to the amount of Thirty Thousand Dollars, and not 
before, the Trustees may proceed to organize and establish the said Col- 
lege in such town in this State as they shall judge most expedient. 



76 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 



CHANGE OF NAME. 

At a special meeting of the Trustees of Washington College, held at 
Hartford, on the 8th day of May, a. d. 1845, the following Resolution 
was passed : — 

Resolved, That it is expedient that the name of " Washington Col- 
lege" should be changed to that of " Trinity College." 

Hon. Isaac Toucey, Hon. William W. Boardman, and Thomas Bel- 
knap, Esq., were appointed a Committee to present a memorial to the 
Legislature of Connecticut, praying that the corporate name of the Col- 
lege may be changed accordingly. The memorial was presented, and 
the General Assembly, then in session at Hartford, passed the following 
Resolution (which was approved by the Governor, May 24, 1845) : — 

Upon the memorial of the Trustees of Washington College, showing 
that there are sundry other Colleges in the United States bearing the 
name of Washington College, praying for a change in their corporate 
name, etc. : — 

Resolved by this Assembly, That the name of said Corporation be 
changed to that of The Trustees of Trinity College; and that all grants, 
devises, and bequests heretofore made or that shall hereafter be made to 
said Corporation by its former name, shall be deemed good and valid as 
if made to said College by its present corporate name. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 

A SERMON AT THE CONSECRATION OF CHRIST CHURCH, 
STRATFORD, CONN., JULY 29, 1858. 

There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
mountains : the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon : and they of the 
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. — Psalm lxxii. 16. 

It was probably in his last days, and after his son 
had reached the throne, that David penned this 
sublime Psalm. It is noted in the conclusion, "The 
prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended." Trans- 
ported with joy and gratitude, in view of an event so 
auspicious as the coronation of Solomon, he invoked 
the benediction of heaven upon the young king and 
his people, and then, impelled by a divine enthusi- 
asm, ascended to a higher subject, and portrayed, 
under the figure of his peaceful and glorious admin- 
istration, the person of the Messiah and the power 
and magnificence of his reign. Much of the language 
employed in this composition is inapplicable to Solo- 
mon, except as he is the type of Christ. The words, 
" They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon 
endure, throughout all generations," never could be 
spoken literally of an earthly potentate, but they are 
true of Him whose sway in the world by his provi- 
dence, and in the Church by the influences of his 
grace, is to be lasting as the luminaries of heaven. 



78 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

There is a double sense in the passage placed at 
the head of this discourse. The writer is undoubt- 
edly foretelling the wonderful fertility of Judea in the 
days of Solomon, — fertility so great, that from "a 
handful of corn," sown on the barren mountain top, 
should issue a produce, the ears of which would shake 
and wave in the wind, like the cedars of Lebanon ; 
w r hile in the city a fresh generation of Israelites should 
spring up and advance to maturity, as the unnum- 
bered blades of grass in the thrifty field. Passing 
from a simple view of this temporal prosperity to a 
prophetic survey of the remoter reign of the Messiah, 
the Psalmist beheld the amazing increase of the word, 
when sown in the barren hearts of men ; the aston- 
ishing multiplication of Christian disciples, from a 
beginning as insignificant in itself as the lodgment 
of seed in the earth. No comparison could be fitter 
to represent the development and progress of the 
Gospel. It is the image which meets us often in the 
predictions of the prophets, and it forms the ground- 
work of several chapters in the New Testament. It 
unites in one record the rapid growth of the Church 
and a description of her continual watchfulness and 
prayer. It shows how, under the breath of the living 
Spirit, her life was first nurtured and quickened, and 
then how, as in a gracious springtime, she did shoot 
forth and unfold herself with spreading branches, 
according to the inward law of her own being. " So 
mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." So 
was it in the early history of the Christian Church, 
that the " handful of corn," sown " in the earth upon 
the top of the mountains," did yield such a plentiful 
return that Lebanon, nodding with its cedars, was not 



HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 79 

a figure too bold to express her growth, nor the ver- 
dure of the favored field too rich to denote the pros- 
perity of the crowded mart. 

But the text thus fitted to describe the early growth 
of Christianity is not inappropriate to the occasion 
that has called us together. We have met to dedi- 
cate to the honor and worship of God, and thus to 
separate forever from all unhallowed, worldly, and 
common uses, this beautiful structure that binds its 
builders to an interesting past. The simple scene 
presented to-day in the streets of your village is very 
different from one that was witnessed here some cen- 
tury and a half ago. Then two distinguished persons 
rode into the place, — one * a priest in the Church of 
the ever-living God, and the other, 2 a Christian gentle- 

1 Rev. George Muirson, a Scotsman by birth, who was first sent by 
the Propagation Society as schoolmaster to Albany. He bore a letter to 
the Bishop of London (by whom he was afterwards ordained), dated 
October 17, 1704, written by Rev. E. Evans, and speaking of him as 
" well beloved and esteemed by all sorts of people; a man of a very sober 
and blameless conversation." " I give him," he adds, " this recommenda- 
tion, not to gratify himself, nor anybody else, but because I sincerely be- 
lieve he may be very instrumental of doing much good in the Church." 
He returned to this country in July, 1705, and took charge of the Mission 
at Rye, where he died October, 1708, in the prime of his life and useful- 
ness, being about thirty-three years of age. — Hawkins's Historical 
Notices, p. 277. 

2 Colonel Caleb Heathcote, who came to this country in 1690, and 
bought large tracts of land in Westchester County, N. Y. He was a 
leading man in the Province, a member of the first Vestry of Trinity 
Church, N. Y., and at different times Mayor of New York, Commander 
of the forces of the Province, Surveyor-General of the customs for the 
eastern district of North America. He died in 1721, and was buried in 
Trinity Church Yard. 

He accompanied Mr. Muirson in his several visits to Stratford, and 
heartily supported him in every effort for the good of the Church. They 
both went up and down in the Colony, and acted in some degree as itin- 
erant Missionaries. 



80 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

man, — loving most warmly the same Church, and 
sustaining high and important responsibilities in a 
neighboring colony. They came upon the invitation 
of a few families here, attached to the faith of their 
forefathers and desirous of worshiping God in the 
forms of the Liturgy, and, because they thus came, 
their entrance was disputed and their object opposed. 
Each subsequent visit seemed to increase the hostility, 
for the settlers, though many of them were born and 
nurtured in the Church of England, had long been 
taught to look upon her as the Nazareth out of which 
no good thing could come. Hence all favor shown 
to her worship and Missionaries, and all participation 
in her ordinances were denounced, and the handful of 
Churchmen were greatly misused and persecuted, and 
"distresses" were levied upon their estates to support 
the religion and ministry legalized and encouraged 
by the Provincial government. I do not speak of 
these things, my brethren, to awaken any unpleasant 
emotions. It was the fault of the times, that those 
who claimed to have been driven hither by persecu- 
tion turned persecutors ; but these things revive the 
picture that was seen, and show the state of feeling 
that existed here one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Bat how changed now? Instead of the lone Pres- 
byter coming with his lone attendant, and seeking in 
some private dwelling to cross a child in Baptism, or 
to minister to a little despised flock, — instead of this, 
now we come in various groups and from different 
quarters, and, uniting in a surpliced band with a 
Bishop at our head, 1 we enter these walls, and are 

1 Forty-nine clergymen, with Bishop Williams, were present at the 
Consecration. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 81 

welcomed by a waiting multitude, who join us in the 
glad response, " This is the generation of them that 
seek Him ; even of them that seek thy face, Jacob." 
Nor is this all that graces the occasion and adds to its 
solemnity and interest. Laymen from abroad are 
with us ; " they of the city," where the Church has 
" flourished like grass of the earth." Many, too, from 
their quiet homes on the distant hillsides, where the 
" handful of corn " was early scattered, have come 
down to share in your joy, as their fathers of old came 
down to the Christmas and Faster festivals, and swelled 
the number that thronged the house of Johnson. 1 

It is not my intention to go over the history of 
your Parish; but I have taken a significant passage 
near its beginning to illustrate the text, and now I 
must turn to one farther on. It would be easy for 
me in referring to this passage to present another 
contrast, and thus to show the wide difference be- 
tween Commencement Day at Yale College, in 1722, 
and the same occasion in 1858. 2 But I will recite 
the story, and others may make the contrast. 

Fifteen years of alternate hope and despondency 
passed away before the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts could answer the 
importunities of the earliest Churchmen here, and 
station among them a suitable Missionary. By this 
time some earnest inquiries had been started else- 
where, and soon those astounding events in the reli- 
gious history of the Colony occurred that widened the 
prospect of establishing the Church and increasing the 

1 Chandler's Life of Dr. Johnson, p. 133. 

2 The Consecration and the Commencement occurred on the same day. 

6 



82 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

number of parishes. Johnson, an acceptable min- 
ister among the Congregationalists at West Haven, 
and Cutler, for ten years a popular preacher of the 
same order in your own town, 1 but now the Classic 
Rector of Yale College, with several associates, had 
frequently met in the Library of that Institution, and 
discovering there " a handful of corn," that had been 
sent over from the mother country in the shape of 
Theological treatises, they began to examine it and 
to test its quality. They examined the doctrines and 
practices of the Primitive Church, and compared them 
with the model of their own discipline and worship, 
and the further they pushed their inquiries the more 
uneasy they became. As light would break in upon 
the darkened chamber of their toil, they finally wel- 
comed it, and two 2 of their number, occupying high 
positions in the College, sent in to the Trustees at the 
annual Commencement in 1722, a formal statement 
of their views, and declared for Episcopacy. The 
rest made no secret of their opinions. Unspeakable 
was the amazement of the grave assembly which 
heard the statement of Cutler and his Tutor; over- 
whelming was the sorrow and wide the consternation, 

1 Rev. Timothy Cutler, " who lived then at Boston or Cambridge, was 
sought out," in 1709, and sent " to Stratford," as " one of the best preach- 
ers both colonies afforded." The Congregationalists seem to have hoped 
by his influence to weaken or destroy the interest in favor of the Church 
of England, which at this time was increasing. Mr. Cutler's popularity 
probably gained him the appointment at Yale College, and "to make 
compensation to the people of Stratford for the removal of their minister, 
the trustees agreed to give them Mr. Cutler's house and home lot, which 
they purchased for eighty-four pounds sterling." — Trumbull's History of 
Connecticut, vol. ii. p. 33. 

2 Rector Cutler and Daniel Brown, the Tutor. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 83 

as the tidings of it passed from town to town and vil- 
lage to village. " I suppose," says President Woolsey, 
speaking of this event in the Historical Discourse 1 
delivered on occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of the Institution, " that greater alarm 
would scarcely be awakened now, if the Theological 
Faculty of the College were to declare for the Church 
of Rome, avow their belief in Transubstantiation, and 
pray to the Virgin Mary." Nothing, my hearers, 
could shake the strongest of these men from their 
convictions. They had been looked upon as brethren 
of highest promise and influence, and, therefore, every 
effort was made to remove their doubts and misgiv- 
ings, to settle them back into the prevailing faith, and 
so to quiet the apprehensions and alarm of the people. 
That was an earnest and sincere debate, which Salton- 
stall, 2 the Governor of the Colony, invited and presided 
over with a view to these ends, and, though it termi- 
nated abruptly, it never was reopened in the same 

1 Page 26. 

2 Gurdon Saltonstall, at this time Governor, was the Congregational 
minister at New London, when Keith and Talbot visited that place in 
1702. The latter preached there on a Sunday, and Saltonstall " civilly- 
entertained them at his house, and expressed his good affection to the 
Church of England." Trumbull speaks of him as " a great man, well 
versed in the Episcopal controversy," and the friendly conference was 
invited with no expectation that it would end virtually in the discomfiture 
of the Trustees of the College. Cutler, Johnson, and Brown wavered 
not, having studied the matter too thoroughly to be shaken by anything 
but argument. But three others who only doubted the validity of Pres- 
byterian ordination continued in their respective places, and for the rest 
of their days " were never known to act or say, or insinuate anything 
to the disadvantage of the Church." Wetmore, who stood up side by 
side with his friends in the College Library, defending Episcopacy, fol- 
lowed them seven months later to England, received Holy Orders, and 
returned with them to this country. 



84 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

way. For three of those who laid down their honors 
and preferments, and periled all for the sake of prin 
ciple, embarked early in November of the same year 
for England, to seek ordination from the Bishops 
of her Church. There sickness and sorrow befell 1 
them, and two only lived to return and exercise the 
office of their Priesthood. One 2 was stationed at a 
post in Boston and the other received the place of 
your first Missionary ; and thank him to-day, my 
brethren, one and all, for his work, since he scattered 
the good seed of the kingdom from the shores to the 
mountains. Not above thirty families, "all poor," 
composed the parish when he came to it, and about 
fifty more might have been found scattered in Fair- 
field, Norwalk, Newtown, Ripton, West Haven, and 
other parts of the province. The first parish Church 3 

1 " Scarcely had these devoted men attained the object towards which 
they had been gradually led, through many stages of anxious and pain- 
ful thought, before that malady, which had been so long the dread of 
America and of Europe, and which had already smitten, though not 
unto death, one of their small party (Cutler), reappeared with greater 
malignity, and struck down another to the dust. Within a week after their 
ordination Brown was seized with small-pox, and died on Easter Eve, 
amid the tears of those who confessed that they had lost in him a friend 
and fellow laborer second to none." Anderson's History of the Colonial 
Church, vol. iii. chap. xxix. 

2 Dr. Cutler became Rector of Christ Church, Boston, where he died 
in 1765, after an effective and eventful ministry in the same place, 
extending to more than forty years. Mr. Johnson succeeded in Strat- 
ford Mr. Pigot, who had been transferred to Providence, R. I. In 
Chandler's Life of him it is stated that he " agreed to officiate once every 
three months, but chiefly on week days," in the neighboring towns, and 
the record of his official acts shows that he extended his ministrations to 
many places in the colony, where the Church rapidly grew, and where 
houses of public worship were soon erected. Mr. Wetmore was settled 
at Rye, N. Y. 

8 See Appendix. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 85 

erected in Stratford was opened for divine service on 
Christmas day, 1724, nearly ten months after John- 
son's arrival. It had been begun under the ministry 
of his predecessor, and as it was then the only Epis- 
copal house of worship in the Colony, and he the only 
Episcopal clergyman, Churchmen from other towns 
regularly attended and helped to increase the congre- 
gation. As the dwellers at Jerusalem on the day of 
Pentecost reported everywhere the wonderful works 
of God, so these men carried along the shore towns 
and back into the valleys, and far upon the distant 
hill-tops of the interior, tidings of the worship they 
offered and of the instruction they gained here. A 
revival of reverence and affection in many towards 
the Church which their fathers had forsaken soon fol- 
lowed. Parishes were formed and Missionaries sta- 
tioned in several towns, and so great was the whole 
growth that, thirteen years after Johnson's settle- 
ment in this place, when an accurate enumeration 
was made of the Episcopal families of Connecticut, 
the number was found to have increased from eighty 
to seven hundred. 1 Twenty years after his settle- 
ment, a fresh impulse was given to the Church of 
England by the indirect influence of Whitefield's 
preaching, and steps were taken to provide for the 
larger congregation by erecting another edifice here 
to take the place of the former, and to exceed it in 
size and glory. That edifice, so rich in historical asso- 
ciations, and the scene of a " bright succession " of 
pastors, still stands by our side, and you whose affec- 
tions linger fondly around it as the spot where you 

1 Chandler's Life of Johnson, p. 64. 



86 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

can say "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy 
house and the place where thine honor dwelleth" 1 
may be soothed by the thought that in transferring 
your religious services to this sanctuary, you transfer 
them to one as tasteful, as beautiful, and of such 
complete architecture, that if " the stone shall cry 
out of the wall " " the beam out of the timber will 
answer it." 

We have now gone far enough to look, in this con- 
nection, at some of the main causes, under God, of 
the progress and prosperity of the Church in Con- 
necticut. The more I have examined into the state 
of the Colony and into the character of our early 
Clergy and our early Churchmen, the more thoroughly 
have I become satisfied that three things had a direct 
and abiding influence on the growth of Episcopacy. 
And these three things may be noted without depart- 
ing from the simple figure of the text. 

First, The seed was good, the doctrine was sound. 
It was all the better for being old. It has been said 
that the vine which springs from seed long kept, 
being less likely to run to waste, produces the most 
delicious and abundant fruit. The Church, as "a 
Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ," has a history. 
It is in conformity with the Apostolic model, and fur- 
nishes in its Articles and Liturgy exactly those views 
of the plan of salvation by Christ, which not only 
commend themselves to the judgment of sober-minded, 
intelligent men, but appeal also to the conscience of 

1 The Rev. Dr. Johnson preached from this text at the opening of the 
church, July 8, 1744, and his sermon, entitled " The Great Duty of Lov- 
ing and Delighting in the Public Worship of God," was published, with 
prayers for the family and closet appended. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 87 

perishing sinners. Christ meets us in all the aspects 
of duty and devotion throughout every part of our 
Ritual. In His name our prayers are offered, our 
services rendered. " No man cometh unto the Father 
but by Him," and doubtless the blessing of heaven 
has watered the vineyard and given the increase, 
because the faith thus condensed in our Creeds, 
expanded in our Articles, infused into our Prayers, 
taught in our Catechism, and preached in our Ser- 
mons, is beyond all fit and honorable controversy 
" the faith once delivered to the Saints." 

Again, not only was the seed good, but it was sown 
by strong and prudent hands, and watched with constant 
care. If the earliest Clergy in Connecticut magnified 
their office, they knew their duty and stood up to it 
through every sort of trial and discouragement. No 
body of men ever grappled more resolutely with the 
difficulties by which they were surrounded, or com- 
prehended more thoroughly the arguments in support 
of a threefold ministry and of all the doctrines con- 
tained in the Book of Common Prayer. They were 
obliged to be Christian scholars, and to be armed on 
all sides with reasons for their faith. They could not 
dwell in the midst of learned men of another denomi- 
nation, and receive their frequent and severe assaults, 
except they provided themselves with the weapons of 
self-defense. There was nothing superficial in their 
attainments. They explored the very depths of 
sacred erudition, so that when they came to discourse 
from the pulpit or to write for the press, they had at 
command language and arguments, both clear and 
forcible. They preached, moreover, from house to 



88 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

house. They were pastors to their flocks, and accom- 
plished in private what they could not gain in public. 
They were models of missionary zeal and devotion, 
and living the sermons they preached, — practicing 
in all the relations of social intercourse the duties 
which they inculcated, — they won the esteem and 
admiration of many who were not ready at once to 
subscribe to their doctrines. Thus, men of learning, 
men of God, men of prayer, men of faith, men of sac- 
rifice and self-denial, they sowed the seed. The great 
champion of all was here, and stamped the impress 
of his remarkable mind upon the laborers in other 
fields, upon Beach, Caner, Punderson, Learning, Mans- 
field, and the elder Seabury. 

Beach ! I have never thought that ample justice 
was done to his name on the pages of our history. 
He was scarcely inferior in strength of intellect, in 
knowledge of the Church, in the toils and trials of 
his vocation, to him who has been justly styled the 
"father of Episcopacy in Connecticut." Indeed, after 
Johnson removed to New York, and served the 
Church in the Presidency of King's (now Columbia) 
College, Beach was our chief defender, and wielded 
the pen of controversy and exposed the schemes of 
his adversaries, both with skill and power. He kept 
his eye upon every rood of ground where the seed 
had been sown, and as fearless as faultless, traveled 
by night and by day, amid storms and snowdrifts and 
across deep and rushing streams to preach the word, 
to visit and comfort the sick, and to bury the dead. 1 

1 Rev. John Beach, born at Stratford, and the early friend of John- 
son, graduated at Yale College in 1721, and was for some time a 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 89 

He remained at his post when the terrors of the Rev- 
olution came, and alone of all the clergy in the Colony 
refused to close his church and pray the prayers of 
the Liturgy. Johnson, upon whom in addition to the 
weight of declining years, the heavier burden of 

Congregational minister at Newtown. He afterwards "joined our 
communion upon principle," and among other testimonials which he 
presented to the Bishop of London, when he went for Holy Orders, was 
one from Rev. Mr. Honyman of Rhode Island, speaking of him as 
" esteemed by all that knew him in this country, for the sake of his good 
morals and his learning," and " earnestly desiring that he might return 
again to the place where he had lived long, and was extremely beloved." 
He arrived at Newtown, a missionary of the Church of England, in Sep- 
tember, 1732. His own simple and touching words, as given in a letter 
dated May 5, 1772, well express his faithful and consistent course. 

" As it is now forty years since I have had the advantage of being the 
Venerable Society's Missionary in this place, I suppose it will not be 
improper to give a brief account how I have spent my time and improved 
their charity. Every Sunday I have performed divine service and 
preached twice, at Newtown and Reading alternately. And in these 
forty years I have lost only two Sundays through sickness, although in 
all that time I have been afflicted with a constant colic, which has not 
allowed me one day's ease or freedom from pain. The distance between 
the churches at Newtown and Reading is between eight and nine miles, 
and no very good road, yet have I never failed one time to attend each 
place according to custom through the badness of the weather, but have 
rode in the severest rains and snowstorms, even when there has been 
no track, and my horse near miring down in the snowbanks, — which has 
had this good effect on my parishioners that they are ashamed to stay 
from Church on account of bad weather, so that they are remarkably 
forward to attend the public worship." 

Ten years later he penned his last letter to the Society, in which he 
says : " I am now in the eighty-second year of my age, yet do constantly 
alternately perform service and preach at Newtown and Reading. I have 
been sixty years a public preacher, and, after conviction, in the Church 
of England fifty years, but had I been sensible of my insufficiency I 
should not have undertaken it. But now I rejoice in that I think I have 
done more good towards men's eternal happiness than I should have done 
in any other calling." He lingered six months longer and died "fairly 
worn out," March 19, 1782. Hawkins's Historical Notices, chap. ix. 



90 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

domestic sorrow was laid, had resigned, some time 
prior to this event, the Presidency of King's College, 
and was living in retirement at the scene of his former 
ministrations, and amid the bosom of his affectionate 
parishioners. With broken strength, but with a spirit 
still fresh and buoyant, he served them for many 
years, " exercising again all the offices of Christian 
love and watchfulness on their behalf," and entering 
into a correspondence with friends at home and 
abroad to secure what his clear eye saw to be so 
needful to complete the Scriptural order and effective 
discipline of the Church — an American Episcopate. 
He passed to his reward just as the clouds of the 
Revolution were gathering and rolling up in thicker 
folds. When the shock of that event came the Church 
in Connecticut reeled under it. An oath of allegiance 
bound the Missionaries in loyalty to the king, and 
hence they and their congregations were generally 
regarded with suspicion and distrust by the patriots 
of the land. Three * of our houses of worship, how- 
ever, were burned by the very invaders whose cause 
they were supposed secretly to sustain, and others 
only echoed at distant intervals the sounds of prayer 
and praise, so that, when the separation of the colonies 
from the mother country was effected, many of our 
clergy, with respectable portions of their flocks, had 
withdrawn, or then withdrew, to the British Provinces. 
Scarcely ten remained in Connecticut, and these were 
dependent upon weakened parishes and subject to an 
accumulated weight of popular prejudice. But ten 
were enough to save the Church and nurture " the 

1 The churches in Norwalk, Fairfield, and New London. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 91 

handful of corn." They rallied at once from all dis- 
couragement and, as the first step to perfect an inde- 
pendent organization, selected an earnest, honest, and 
exemplary Clergyman, 1 and sent him forth to solicit 
Consecration to the Episcopate. Thus Connecticut 
became the primal Diocese in our land, and hence- 
forward her history is too familiar to need repetition 
here. 

These, my brethren, were the men who sowed the 
seed, and now for the third element in the growth of 
Episcopacy, we must look at 

The soil upon which it fell. 

That little band who welcomed Heathcote and his 
Missionary were as " the handful of corn " sown on 
the mountain. Though poor in this world's goods, 
they were rich in faith. They were men who bore 
their trials and grievances nobly, and took especial 
pains to recommend their creed by pious and blame- 
less lives, for Governor Hunter of New York, in a 
letter written in 1711, after a visit to Connecticut, de- 
scribed the Churchmen of Stratford as " appearing to 
be very much in earnest, and the best set of men he 
met with in that country.' , It was so, my brethren, 
for the most part, in other places, and particularly 
after the influence of the example and teaching of 
the Missionaries began to be felt. The people, like 
their priests, courted knowledge and invited investi- 
gation. Books were not as abundant then as now ; 
but they read all they could reach in favor of the 
Church, and entered into the controversies of the 

1 The Rev. Samuel Seabury, D. D., consecrated at Aberdeen, Scot- 
land, November 14, 1784. 



92 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

times with a spirit which showed that they knew how 
to defend and preserve the truth. Some of them were 
as useful, if not as great theologians, as their Pastors, 
and not only became familiar with Doctrinal treatises, 
but with works on Practical Religion. I have in my 
possession, descended to me from an honored ancestor, 
three printed Discourses by the Rev. John Beach, 
which bear the marks of frequent perusal, and pre- 
sent an appearance not unlike that which, we may 
suppose, the Private Devotions of the pious Bishop 
Andrewes — the companion of all his religious hours 
— presented when "worn in pieces with his ringers 
and wetted with his tears." A great debt of gratitude 
is due these early laymen for the part they bore. 
Anderson, in his recent " History of the Colonial 
Church," 1 tracing the rise and progress of Episcopacy 
among us, concludes a chapter with these reflections, 
and they will apply as well to the Laity as to the 
Clergy : — 

" I will not venture to give expression to the feel- 
ings which I have experienced in relating the various 
incidents contained in this chapter, and which the 
attentive reader can hardly fail to share. That which 
prevails over every other at the present moment, and 
which alone I wish to leave on record, is the feeling 
of deepest gratitude to those men of Connecticut 
who, not from a mere hereditary attachment to the 
Church of England, or indolent acquiescence in her 
teaching, but from a deep, abiding conviction of the 
truth, that she is a faithful witness and keeper of 
Holy Writ,' have shown to her ministers, in every 

1 Vol. iii. p. 444. 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 93 

age and country, the way in which they can best pro- 
mote the glory of their heavenly Master's name, and 
enlarge the borders of His Kingdom." The impress 
of those sterling qualities which marked the character 
of our early laymen is still visible and still respected. 
It is widely known and widely honored. For travel 
East or West, North or South, go where you will 
over this broad land, speak aloud the name of Con- 
necticut Churchman, and if you do not find some to 
claim it, you will find many to rise up and do it honor. 
For this and for all the reasons shown in the progress 
of our Discourse, I feel that we — Bishop, Priests, and 
People — have a right on this occasion and in this 
place to give utterance to our joy and to mingle our 
congratulations. 

I congratulate you, Right Reverend Sir, that you 
are privileged to be the consecrator of a Church 
erected on the soil where your own office was so grace- 
fully defended and so earnestly sought for this West- 
ern worlcl, — where the friend of virtuous Berkeley 
lived and labored so well, — where letters penned by 
learned Sherlock and saintly Seeker and brilliant 
Lowth, came to a genial, kindred spirit, made anxious 
most by the sickening sense of hope long deferred. 
I think it no mean honor, as honors are understood 
by the world, that, in the Providence of God, you are 
over a Diocese where the Church is so rich in historic 
interest, so filled with burning zeal, so impregnated 
with the seed of sound, sober Scriptural views of doc- 
trine and of duty, and where the mitre first graced the 
head of Seabury, as it still graces the head of our own 
Brownell, presiding Bishop of the Church in these 
United States. 



94 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

As for you, my brethren of the Clergy, I cannot 
point you to lessons outside of the word of God, more 
instructive and truthful than many which may be 
read in the toils and trials, in the patience and perse- 
verance and integrity and discretion of some of our 
earliest predecessors in the work of the Church. Oh ! 
if we have entered into their labors, if we occupy the 
precious inheritance which they entailed, let us prove 
our regard for it by watching wisely the flocks com- 
mitted to our charge, and by driving deeper and 
deeper into the living heart of their faith the Gospel 
of Christ. It was a noble feature in the character of 
our early Clergy, that instead of contending for rites 
and ceremonies, or for personal powers and privileges, 
they aimed to propagate Christianity. Herein, as we 
have indicated, was one mighty secret of the success 
of their ministrations. They preached the Gospel, the 
Gospel as the Bible and the Church understand it, 
never forgetting that around the whole was thrown 
not only the happy guard of our Rubrics and Liturgy, 
but the authority also of our Articles and Standards. 
This, too, is our business, and if we perform it as they 
did, God will not withhold His blessing. 

And now, my brethren of this venerable Parish, let 
me, in conclusion, speak a word of friendly warning 
and counsel to you. You have my hearty congratu- 
lations that the outward building is completed, and 
henceforth your work must be to " build up your- 
selves on your most holy faith." " Praying, then, in 
the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, 
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto 
eternal life." You cannot think it enough to be 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 95 

interested in providing merely for the growth of god- 
liness and the increase of the Parish. As there were 
builders of the ark in the old world who were not 
saved with Noah and his family from perishing, so 
there may be builders of temples in the new, who 
shall never find them the gate of heaven. If you 
would prosper as a parish, live in peace, and the very 
God of peace will dwell with you. The broken band 
is ever weak. Among all the troubles which befell 
the earliest Churchmen here, they were never torn by 
internal dissension. The golden girdle of charity 
was around them, and thus encircled they walked and 
watched and prayed. Come in their spirit to this 
beauteous sanctuary, and may it be to you all none 
other than the House of God and the gate of heaven. 
May it prove to you the harbinger of the love, and 
the peace and the holiness, and the joy of that eternal 
state, to which believers in the shadows of mortality 
do lift the eye of faith. And long after you, as the 
seniors of the present age, have given your bodies to 
mingle with those of your fathers in the dust of the 
sepulchre, may the prophetic blessing be fulfilled on 
your children's children : that because of this and that 
man being born here, righteousness has been made 
to run down your streets, and to descend with all the 
force and fullness of an increasing river from genera- 
tion to generation. God grant it for the Redeemer's 
sake, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, 
be rendered and ascribed all honor, might, majesty, 
glory, and dominion henceforth and forevermore. 
Amen. 



APPENDIX. 

As early as 1 708 an attempt was made to build a church in Stratford, 
but it appears to have failed, for, six years afterwards, it is stated that 
the people had " the timber felled for a church, and hoped to get it 
raised in three months' time." I have found no evidence that even this 
effort was successful, though some have supposed that it was. The state- 
ment in the body of the discourse is confirmed by Humphrey in his 
History of the Propagation Society, who says, chapter twelve, " They 
received Mr. Pigot with all kindness and immediately sat about building 
a place for public worship. Accordingly Christ's Church, Stratford, 
was founded in 1723, and the building carried on and completed, partly 
at the charge of the Church of England members there, partly by the 
liberal contributions of pious gentlemen of the neighboring provinces, 
together with the bounty of some travelers who, occasionally passing by, 
contributed. It is a timber building, small but neat, forty-five feet and 
a half long and thirty broad, and twenty up to the roof." The difficulty 
of getting land on which to build, and other troubles and trials to which 
the early Churchmen of Stratford were subjected, probably delayed the 
accomplishment of their wishes. The following extract from the town 
records, furnished by a friend, proves the ingenuity of Mr. Pigot, and at 
the same time adds to the evidence that the new church just consecrated 
is the third erected for the Parish, — for had the Episcopalians then 
held by grant or purchase land on which they had already built a house 
of worship, undoubtedly some reference would have been made to it in 
this record : — 

"At a lawful town meeting in Stratford, June 21, 1723, voted — 
Whereas, Mr. George Pigott and his associates petitioned the town of 
Stratford for to give them land to erect a church on and land for a church 
yard ; and in their petition fixed upon two certain places, the one by 
Mr. Gold's house and the other on the north side of the town's meeting 
house, near Wid. Titharton's land, — The town considering of these pro- 
posals, and the two places they had pitched upon — and found them 
clogged with great difficulty — and that it would be, as they apprehended 
greaily to the damage of the town in general to build on either of these 
places — Howsoever nominated some other places which as they thought 
might be convenient for them. Yet, notwithstanding, they went and 



THE HANDFUL OF CORN AND THE FRUIT. 97 

purchased of John Oatman Thirty-six Rods of Land of his lot next to 
our Meeting House, within some four Rods of the same — and gave as 
appears of Record Thirty pounds for the same — where they are designed 
to erect said church — as they say — which in the judgment of all think- 
ing persons may be very inconvenient and a great disturbance to each 
society, the houses being so near together if erected there — the Town 
therefore propose and offer to Mr. George Pigott and his associate peti- 
tioners aforesaid, to change with them and for the thirty-six Rods of 
land purchased of said Oatman and to allow them for it — forty Rods of 
Land at the place they desired in their petition (namely by the wid. Tith- 
arton's), on the north side of the Meeting House or in lieu of said 36 
Rods of Land, to let them have the 40 Rods aforesaid at a reasonable rate 
and price, to erect their church on and churchyard and the town made 
choice of Mr. Joseph Curtis, Capt. John Hawley, Ensign Edmund Lewis, 
Ensign John Porter or any of them a committee in behalf of the Town 
to present the above proposals and offers of the town to the said Mr. 
Pigott and his associate petitioners, etc. 

Test Joseph Curtis, Town Clerk. 

June 26, 1723. 

L* Joseph Beach entered his dissent against the Town disposing of 
any land of the Common on the north of the meeting house hill by wid. 
Titharton's for the erecting of a church or church yard upon. 

Test Joseph Curtis, Town Clerk" 

The church opened July 8, 1744, is spoken of by Dr. Johnson, in one 
of his letters, as " finished in a very neat and elegant manner, the archi- 
tecture being allowed in some things to exceed anything before done in 
New England." It is 60 feet long, 45 feet wide, 24 high, with a spire 120 
feet. 

The new church, built of wood, is a Gothic structure of the second 
period, from designs prepared by Henry Dudley of New York. Its ex- 
ternal dimensions are 52 feet by 103 feet. It is adapted to seat about 
750 persons, but on the occasion of the Consecration more than 1,000 
were accommodated by the introduction of movable seats. 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 

SERMON BEFORE THE ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE DIO- 
CESE OF CONNECTICUT, IN ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, NEW 
LONDON, JUNE 12, 1860. 

We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth; and build the 
house that was builded these many years ago. — Ezra v. 11. 

Not much need be said to explain the occasion of 
these words. The Jews had returned from their 
captivity in Babylon, and had begun to reconstruct 
upon the old foundations the temple which had been 
destroyed. For a time the work was strangely inter- 
rupted through the power, the jealousy, and the inso- 
lence of its enemies ; but it w r as revived again by the 
Spirit of the Lord of Hosts, and king, prophet, priest, 
and people joined in its prosecution. Seeing their 
zeal and apprehensive of its issue, Tatnai, governor 
on this side the river, with his companions, came 
to the elders of the Jews, and inquired by what 
authority they proceeded to " build the house and to 
make up the wall." And with a simplicity as earnest 
as it was sincere, and as frank as it was fearless, they 
answered: "We are the servants of the God of heaven 
and earth; and build the house that was builded these 
many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded 
and set up." 

The answer indicated their reliance upon the faith 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 99 

of their fathers, and recognized the spirit of the ancient 
Jewish religion. " Servants of the God of heaven and 
earth," they would not resist His mandates, nor cease 
to provide for Him a temple wherein they might 
praise and glorify His holy name. It must have been 
a sublime scene w T hen those poor returned captives 
ascended Mount Moriah, and in the strength of a 
stern faith went on to build what w r as again to cen- 
tralize the scattered nation, and to serve the purpose 
of Jehovah in His Church, till the Messiah should 
come, and till the " ordinances of divine service, and 
a worldly sanctuary" should be succeeded by the 
hopes and demands of the new and spiritual dispen- 
sation. 

Though we are not, my brethren, exactly in their 
condition, humbled and impoverished by long captiv- 
ity in a foreign land, and awakened at last to con- 
sciousness by the cheering promises of God, yet the 
text may well guide our thoughts now, and furnish 
us with some good lessons befitting the hour in which 
I speak and the sacred occasion that has called us 
together. For we, too, are all " servants of the God 
of heaven and earth," servants of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and build His house, the Church, which of old 
was " built upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 
stone." 

For nearly two thousand years the elect body of 
Israel, small at the first and beginning at Jersualem, 
the scene and centre of the rites that symbolized the 
Heavenly High Priest, has been growing and spread- 
ing itself until it has reached with its benign influ- 



100 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ence,s all quarters of the globe. The little Galilean 
band, — the chosen disciples of our Lord, — have 
multiplied and become a mighty people. They have 
the heathen for their inheritance and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for their possession. At a winter 
feast in Jerusalem, the feast of dedication, Jesus 
" walked in the temple in Solomon's porch." In that 
gorgeous edifice it was that He spake those memorable 
and truly prophetic words : " Destroy this temple, and 
in three days I will raise it up." He fulfilled this 
promise as to His own human body ; and He is ever 
fulfilling it as to His mystical body, the Church. 

I will not detain you upon a sketch of the condition 
of the Christian Church in the first three centuries, 
nor will I glance at the many successive persecutions 
that were fierce and strong enough to break anything 
but the omnipotence of God. That period of sorest 
trial was followed by an age of splendid triumph ; for 
the persecutors were suddenly checked in their im- 
pious course and changed into champions of the 
Gospel. Twelve centuries later, when the streams of 
divine truth and light, flowing in Holy Scripture, 
seemed almost entirely shut up, and the soul of the 
Church in our mother country was fainting and ready 
to die, another triumph was won for the cause of 
" pure and undefiled religion," and how richly since 
has that triumph been owned and blessed of God ? 
The Keformation in England was a work that restored 
what had been withheld, and cleared the streams 
which had been closed or clogged by superstition. 
"It removed obstructions and opened new windows, 
and let in a flood of religious light into the Church, 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 101 

in Prayers, Scriptures, and Sacraments, speaking 
plainly to all in their native tongue. It deepened 
the foundations of the Church in the reason and 
hearts of the people. But it did not build a new 
Church. It made no new Gospel, proclaimed no new 
creed, erected no new altar, created no new order 
of Christian ministers." 1 It wisely, but faithfully, 
cleansed and restored the old. It rejected all false 
doctrines, and protested against every "fond thing" 
of Rome, " vainly invented and grounded upon no 
warranty of Scripture." Its agents were men, com- 
passed with human authority, but the work was a 
work of God. 

We are nearly allied to the body thus reformed. 
The Church of our affections and veneration is the 
daughter of that noble mother, a branch of the true 
vine, we do believe, of which our Father is the hus- 
bandman. You are familiar with the history of its 
early planting in the wildernesses and solitary places 
of this Western world. You know that " these many 
years ago " it met with discouragements and opposi- 
tions as strange and severe as those which hindered 
the building and restoration of the temple. I need 
not detail these discouragements and oppositions now. 
We have outgrown them in our land. We have out- 
grown them in Connecticut. When Keith and Talbot 
visited this place in 1702, and Gurdon Saltonstall, 
then the Con ore optional minister here, and afterwards 
the Governor of the Colony, "civilly entertained them 
at his house, and expressed his good affection to the 

1 Rev. Chr. Wordsworth, D. D., Canon of Westminster, and late 
Bishop of Lincoln. 



102 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Church of England," he little understood the magni- 
tude of the work which his guests had begun, and as 
little foresaw that, onward a century and a half, one 
hundred and twenty-five Episcopal clergymen and as 
many whole hearted laymen, representing the differ- 
ent Parishes of our Diocese, would meet in the city 
of his residence to interchange kind and friendly feel- 
ings, to counsel and legislate for the best interests of 
the Church, and to congratulate each other that their 
" feet stand within thy gates, Jerusalem ; " that 
" peace is within thy walls and prosperity within thy 
palaces." Nay, more : that this very Convention 
should assemble in a sanctuary more artistic, magnifi- 
cent, and imposing than any which then rose on our 
shores, that a living Bishop should preside over its 
deliberations, and our own fit memorial 1 to a departed 
one, warn us, as Heber felt himself to be warned when 
he stood upon the ashes of Swartz, that we are to take 
the work of the Church and carry it on, blessing the 
Lord for His goodness to our fathers, and building, as 
they, the house whose " walls are salvation and whose 
gates are praise." How are we to build it ? What 
elements shall enter into the character of the true 
servants of Christ? I may not mention them all: 
but I will speak of some that are most prominent 
and most needful. 

And, first, the builders of the Church should be 

1 The Convention was permitted by St. James's Parish, while the new 
church was building, to erect a monument to Bishop Seabury in one of 
the divisions of the chancel, and his remains were accordingly taken 
from their original resting spot, September 11, 1849, and deposited in the 
crypt beneath the vault of mason work. Bishop Seabury, at the time of 
his death, was Rector of St. James's Church. 






THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 103 

earnest men, not afraid to put their soul into the work 
of their Divine Master. 

I might take you, brethren, into the different pur- 
suits and callings of our race, and ask you to note with 
what earnestness, with what singleness of aim, they 
are prosecuted by those in whose judgment they are 
precious and important. The inventor, the artisan, 
the trader, the banker, the merchant, the soldier, the 
seaman, the statesman, the scholar, the jurist, the men 
in all professions and occupations who command suc- 
cess, are earnest men. They know very well the 
direct necessity of being thoroughly interested in 
what they are pledged to accomplish and attain. The 
shopman might as well put up his shutters and retire 
from business altogether, as sleep over it at noon-day, 
or wake to it when the sun has climbed high in the 
firmament. And so, too, the ambassador for Christ 
who goes sluggishly to his duties, or who would make 
them all easier by shunning the toils, the hardships, 
and the self-denials of the ministry, will find but slen- 
der reward, and perhaps utterly fail in his expecta- 
tions. He may sit in his study and dream about cleri- 
cal prerogatives, about choral services, about adapting 
the Church to the times, about relaxing the rigor of 
Rubrics, and changing the use or the character of the 
Liturgy ; but, after all, if he only dreams and lets his 
energies sleep, he will not add a stone to the wall. 
The temple rose on the ancient mount of God, because 
the people had a mind to work. It is a working 
Clergy that the Church ever needs, not a machinery 
to lessen the motive power. Under whatever figure 
our office is represented in Holy Scripture, whether 



104 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

we are termed stewards of the mysteries of the Gospel, 
watchmen on the walls of Zion, ambassadors of the 
Prince of Peace, or servants of Him who taught with 
authority, and not as the Scribes, it is the same ele- 
ment that enters into our character, the same Divine 
voice that commands us to "watch as they that must 
give an account." Every change is not necessarily a 
change of system; but we may well distrust new, 
untried, and popular schemes, charged but moderately 
with the spirit of the Gospel. We are to deal with 
society as it is, and as God foresaw it would be, and I 
do not believe, so long as men are born, live, and 
die after the present fashion, that you will find any 
improvement in manners, morals, or religion, by ex- 
hausting your enthusiasm upon directions which seem 
to point elsewhere than to the " old paths and the 
good way." 

The Lord, in the periods past, has crowned with His 
manifold blessing the labors of His earnest, patient 
servants. I have already glanced at this fact, but I 
may turn to it again. Since the effusion of the Holy 
Spirit on the day of Pentecost, an event not inferior 
in importance to the Incarnation of the Son of God, 
the peaceful inroads of knowledge and truth into the 
territories of ignorance and idolatry have been stead- 
ily opening. That miraculous occurrence and the 
injection thereby of extraordinary power into the 
minds of the assembled disciples, completely removed 
the wall which had so long inclosed the privileges of 
a peculiar people, and then, for the first time, it was 
proclaimed distinctly, that nations far and near were 
to be offered the blessings of Kedemption, and in 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 105 

accepting them to have, what we know there are, 
"one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and 
Father of us all, who is above all and through all and 
in ail." Barren spots, hills unlikely to be blessed with 
verdure or fruitfulness, such as Tabor and Hermon, 
rejoiced and blossomed as the rose, under the culture 
and care of Apostolic husbandmen. Endued with the 
gift of tongues and the power of working miracles, 
they went forth from Jerusalem, as they were com- 
manded, and placed the tribes of the earth in a new 
moral position. They showed them how they were 
brought nigh to God by the blood of Jesus, how they 
need no longer spend life in doubt and conjecture, or 
worship the Deity under the degraded and degrading 
rites of ancestral superstition. 

But still, aside from the extraordinary agency of 
the Holy Ghost, what gave to the ministry of the 
Apostles such rapid and abundant success, was the 
bending their minds and their efforts to the accom- 
plishment of the same sacred purpose. The big and 
burning heart of St. Paul looked out on the creatures 
of infinite power and beneficence as the only objects 
whom his grateful regard could profit and elevate. 
He would show his sincere thankfulness to God by 
an earnest devotion of his life to their spiritual good, 
and that example of high-souled excellence is ours 
for imitation, so long as there be a hill of the earth 
mantled with moral darkness, or a shore which the 
foot of the Christian Missionary has not trodden. 

Do thou, God, go forth with our hosts, and there 
shall be a triumphant and more glorious demonstra- 
tion that " the weapons of our warfare," though u not 



106 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

carnal/' " are mighty through Thee to the pulling 
down of strongholds " of unbelief and irreligion ! 

I will speak of another element in the character of 
the builders of the Church. They should be faithful 
men , faithful to themselves and faithful to their Divine 
Master. They should be faithful to themselves. The 
great lines of practical duty are sufficiently manifest. 
However we may differ in matters connected with the 
immediate or general policy of the Church, we all 
agree that in these times and in our land the life of a 
Christian minister must be a busy one. It must have 
its parts for diligent and Scriptural research, and its 
parts for private and pastoral intercourse with the 
people. The most that we can expect from the stu- 
dent in theology, when he comes fresh from the lec- 
ture-room of his professor, is fitness under God to begin 
his work, a knowledge of the use of the materials 
placed in his hands. With the aid of these materials, 
he is to be a student ever after, " giving attendance to 
reading," " doing the work of an evangelist, and mak- 
ing full proof of his ministry." For no preacher can 
hope to accomplish much good or to produce a very 
decided impression unless he places religious truth in a 
clearer or in a stronger light than that in which it com- 
monly presents itself to his congregation. And how 
will he do this, if he be not faithful to himself, and im- 
prove his talents as best he may ? It is certain that, 
under the same administration, there are diversities 
of gifts, and the most brilliant intellectual powers, we 
know, are not always the most useful. Preaching is an 
ordinance of God, and its influence in diffusing and en- 
forcing Christian truth is not dependent simply upon 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 107 

the talent of the man, but also on the converting and 
sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Hence, to obtain 
this indispensable help, the truest and humblest min- 
isters of Christ will pray for it, and rely upon it, and 
act upon it, as their ceaseless encouragement to faith, 
to industry, to self-denial, to watchfulness and perse- 
verance. 

And those who are thus faithful to themselves, 
should be faithful to their Divine Master. They should 
not exalt the body above the head, — the Church 
above Christ, — but holding in their right relations 
for reverence and affection Him and His institutions 
— the Gospel of His love and the sacraments of His 
appointment — they should " serve God for the pro- 
moting of His glory and the edifying of His people," 
and so make known the fidelity of their stewardship. 
Hugh Latimer well said : " The blind curate and his. 
blind parishioners fall together." We shall mislead if 
we withhold the truth, or determine to make anything 
more prominent in our ministrations than " Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified." We are, indeed, admon- 
ished to guard against the subtilty of error. It is 
among the searching and solemn questions, addressed 
in the course of his public examination to the candi- 
date about to be ordained : " Will you be ready, with 
all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away from 
the Church all erroneous and strange doctrines con- 
trary to God's word; and to use both public and pri- 
vate monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as 
to the whole within your cure, as need shall require 
and occasion shall be given ? " and to this question he 
is expected to return the honest answer, " I will so do, 
the Lord being my helper." 



108 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Fidelity to Christ, involved in the remembrance 
of this and other vows, does not require that having 
the spirit of party I should be censorious and unhesi- 
tatingly proscribe a brother whose theological opin- 
ions differ from mine in some of their lighter shades ; 
who does not think it all important to bow with me 
in the Creed, or who hesitates, perhaps, to accept as 
the best interpretation of our standards every page 
of the " learned and judicious " Hooker. The Apos- 
tolic Church was broad enough to embrace in her 
love and care Barnabas and Paul, Silas and Mark. 
As little does fidelity to Christ and his fold ask me to 
be uncharitable towards those who belong to other 
communions. Men in their new connections are 
sometimes indiscreet and over-zealous. I bless God 
that I am " a Hebrew of the Hebrews," that I have 
come in a right line of descent from Churchmen who 
rallied around Johnson at his earliest ministrations in 
Stratford ; but I if I had not so descended, if I had been 
born and nurtured elsewhere, I would not turn and 
assail with needless violence the shelter from which I 
had escaped. We gain for our cause, by this means, 
little advantage. We rather excite prejudice and 
fresh opposition. Suppose St. Paul, receiving " the 
cloak that he left at Troas, the books, but especially 
the parchments," had gone to Thessalonica, and, 
standing up there in a synagogue of the Jews, had 
begun to say, " You are all wrong ; down with your 
customs, down with your worship ! " would he have 
touched and converted as many hearts as by " reason- 
ing with them out of the Scriptures, opening and 
alleging - that Christ must needs have suffered and 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 109 

risen again from the dead ; and that this Jesus, whom 
he preached unto them, was Christ ? " We may fully 
and firmly defend our own way, and show our people, 
as we walk about Zion, the bulwarks and towers 
thereof. No man can be faithful to his ordination 
vows, to Christ and His Church, who fails here. But 
with a system of order and discipline, formed after 
the Apostolic and Primitive model ; with a ministry 
" marking a long extended line;" with prayers in "a 
tongue understanded of the people," and with hymns 
and chorals around which cluster the precious memo- 
ries of the Holy Reformed " Church throughout all the 
w r orld ; " with these in our possession, we can afford to 
let boasting alone, and to build our walls "in quietness 
and confidence." 

I may mention a third element in the character of 
the true builders of the Church. They should be 
men of piety, eminent piety. 

We may possess much human learning, but if we 
have not the love of Christ in our souls we lack the 
most important knowledge. The mere guidance of 
books can never lead us securely in the whole path 
of sacred duty. Without wisdom from above, without 
faith and prayer and a Christian example, the most 
eloquent preacher is but "as sounding brass and a 
tinkling cymbal." The twofold injunction of St. Paul 
to his beloved Timothy stands for the ministers of all 
time : " Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doc- 
trine ; continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt 
both save thyself and them that hear thee." "Save 
thyself and them that hear thee ! " How great, how 
responsible the work ! It is no other than to carry 



110 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

on to its happy perfection that stupendous dispensa- 
tion of grace, which has been from the earliest time 
the object of God's providential care, and for the 
accomplishment of which His only begotten Son con- 
descended to divest himself of glory, to suffer and to 
die. Can we attain this high end of our ministry 
except we are diligent to u frame and fashion our own 
lives and the lives of our families according to the doc- 
trine of Christ? " Our station is on an eminence, and 
our actions will be watched. We ought, therefore, to 
be ourselves, both in the public and private duties of 
our calling, what we seek to make our people, and 
much more if possible. The purer the robe we wear, 
the more unseemly is any stain upon it, and the more 
sacred the character we profess the more heinous is 
the sin of its profanation. I am sure you can bear me 
witness that nothing will strike the tongue of priestly 
authority with so dead a palsy as the simple convic- 
tion of unworthiness in them to whom the authority 
is committed. Nothing will so completely neutralize 
the blessed effects of an ambassador of Christ, and 
turn his ministrations into blight and barrenness, as 
the slightest suspicion among the people of his charge, 
that faintness hath come upon his spirit, or a cold, cal- 
culating world liness chilled and contracted his heart. 
" Holiness unto the Lord " is the motto which should 
ever be emblazoned upon the banner we bear. Do 
we visit the chamber of the sick, do we cross the 
threshold of an afflicted and sorrowing family, or do 
we go in the exercise of our pastoral office upon a 
friendly errand to the sinner, not coming with the 
multitude to the sanctuary, — " Holiness unto the 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. HI 

Lord " is the impression which we should leave of 
the character we possess. Never were consistency 
and godliness to any body of men more indispensable 
than to the Clergy. The many imperfections we 
exhibit, our careless departures from Christian pro- 
priety, the eye of suspicion and distrust with which 
we sometimes view the labors and piety of those who 
minister with us at the same holy altar, the frequent 
and unguarded mention of those personal faults which 
we ought rather to conceal or, at least, to cover with 
the mantle of charity, the long and profitless theolog- 
ical controversies that we provoke, and often conduct 
by no means in the spirit and temper that become 
servants of a Divine Master, — all these things, and 
many more, which might be named, operate as hin- 
drances to the building up of the walls of the Church ; 
in other words, as impediments to the great work of 
saving souls, and of "presenting every man perfect 
in Christ Jesus." 

I need not enlarge upon this topic. " The print of 
a seal," as an old writer has justly remarked, "is all 
one, whether it be graven in iron or in gold;" and so 
the Gospel is one and the same, whether it be borne 
by a good messenger or a bad ; yet none will deny 
that men of God, standing in the holy place of His 
temple, and charged with all His messages of love and 
truth to our race, should aim at exalted attainments 
in piety, and teach by their lives as well as by their 
sermons. The Reformers taught in this way. They 
had the advantage over their antagonists in every 
respect. Jewel was an accomplished scholar and a 
noble Christian. " The whole life of Ridley," says his 



112 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

biographer, " was a letter written full of learning and 
religion, whereof his death was the seal." The soul of 
Lancelot Andrewes breathed upward to God in un- 
ceasing prayer. All the strongest and most successful 
propagators of our faith, in times gone by, were accus- 
tomed to feed upon the bread w T hich they dispensed to 
others. The early Clergy cf Connecticut were men of 
piety. Virginia might be glad to blot from her Colo- 
nial history the names and acts of numerous represen- 
tatives of the Church there ; but we can never be too 
thankful to God that in our Diocese we have a good 
past to read over, — cheering records from the begin- 
ning, to refresh our recollections and quicken our 
diligence. 

Oh ! let us prove ourselves worthy of such an inher- 
itance, by glowing faith, by earnest labors, by fervent 
prayers. Let us all, Clergy and Laity, for we are 
joint builders of one edifice, u build," with benevolent 
and godly zeal, " the house that was builded these 
many years ago." We might do vastly more for our 
own Diocese, for our country, and for the world. We 
occupy a peculiar and commanding position. We 
belong to a Church against whose solid foundations 
we feel more than a mortal persuasion that the gates 
of hell shall never prevail. We confidently believe 
the basis of this Church to be the Rock of ages and 
its superstructure the temple of truth. While, there- 
fore, some of the Christian bodies about us are feeling 
the want of our peculiar advantages and sighing in 
private for Liturgical forms, to give more attraction 
to public prayer and praise, while all around there 
are voices that laud the majestic inheritance of our 



THE CHURCH AND THE BUILDERS. 113 

Ritual and the copious treasury of doctrine and sacred 
songs contained therein, let us know our privileges 
and our power, and use them as they were designed 
to be used, that we may u add to the Church daily 
such as shall be saved." Let us remember to tread 
the courts of this Church in peaceful unanimity. Let 
us worship at her shrine with sincere and enlightened 
devotion, and draw from every chamber of her hal- 
lowed recesses treasures of wisdom and knowledge, of 
doctrine, precept, and example. And then we shall 
find, amidst the vicissitudes of this lower scene, that 
" God will be known in her palaces for a sure refuge ; " 
and no less beautiful for situation than constituted to 
become the iov of the whole earth, she shall be 
acknowledged by all as a worthy portal to that 
heavenly temple above, where her true members shall 
forever shine as durable pillars, and i; shall go no 
more out/' 



THE PEOFIT OF WISDOM. 

DISCOURSE TO THE PUPILS OF THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY 
OF CONNECTICUT, NOVEMBER 20, 1863. 

When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant 
unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep 
thee. — Proverbs ii. 10, 11. 

It is recorded in the First Book of Kings, that Sol- 
omon, the son of David, "spake three thousand pro- 
verbs," and that "his songs were a thousand and 
five." The eminence of his station was not superior 
to the eminence of his wisdom, and his varied experi- 
ence made him a skillful discerner and judge of the 
perils and perversities of human life. Though he 
succeeded to the throne of his father when it was sur- 
rounded with the splendors of extended conquest, yet 
it was among his earliest efforts to prove to the world 
that peace has greater triumphs and richer glories 
than war. The useful and the elegant arts found in 
him at once a pattern and a patron. He summoned 
into being the mighty power of commerce, and vast 
wealth flowed into his dominions as they " extended 
from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of 
the earth." He built palaces of new and noble archi- 
tecture, but his greatest work was the erection of the 
temple, " a house of rest for the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord and for the footstool of our God/' the 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 115 

pattern of which, in all its parts, he received from 
David. That monarch, in his prosperity. " had made 
ready for the building," but was denied the privilege 
of completing it because he " had been a man of war 
and had shed blood." Mindful of the many pious 
instructions and commands which he had received 
from his aged parent, Solomon began his reign with 
such a serious attention to religion and to the sacred 
ordinances as to warrant the inference that he was 
truly devoted to the service of God. He collected 
the floating wisdom of his country, and after he had 
intermingled it with his own, he gave to it shape and 
compactness. 

But the morning of his life, which was indeed a 
morning without clouds, and the meridian of his reign, 
which was no less memorable for all that tended to 
promote admiration of the monarch and to secure 
happiness among the people, were both obscured 
towards the end of his days. A shade fell upon him, 
and proved how dangerous is even prosperity of the 
most exalted kind when men are left to themselves. 
At the season when there ought to have been the full 
maturity of an honorable old age consecrated to God, 
we find his heart lifted up, and through the corrupt 
and fascinating influence of sensuality and idolatry, 
he brought disgrace on his name and distress on his 
country, and the thing which he did displeased the 
Lord. The mournful record is faithfully given to us 
in Scripture, but what he wrote under the dictation 
of the Divine mind stands untarnished, and if any of 
his lessons were penned, after he had recovered from 
his fall ■ — as some commentators will believe — they 



116 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

are all the more valuable and forcible for this very 
circumstance. No one ever had a better right to point 
his words with emphasis than Solomon, in saying, as 
he does in the text, "When wisdom entereth into 
thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, 
discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall 
keep thee." 

The praise and personification of Wisdom run 
through all the Book of Proverbs, a book especially 
addressed to the young, and containing maxims for 
their instruction, their guidance, their comfort, and 
their security. To no class can the preacher, in these 
days, speak with more affectionate concern than to 
those whom the wise man had immediately before 
his mind, when he collected his warnings and deliv- 
ered his exhortations. It is in the season of youth, 
above all other seasons, that "wisdom" must "enter 
into the heart" and "knowledge be pleasant unto 
the soul." What we see about us is convincing proof 
that the waste of early opportunities is a waste not 
to be restored in after life. Time misspent is seldom 
recovered, and few regrets are more frequent and 
sincere than those which manhood utters over the 
waywardness, the follies, and the neglects of youth. 
The wise son of David speaks in the parental charac- 
ter of a father addressing his children, and displays 
great earnestness and solicitude in pressing his advice. 
There is a feeling, an urgency in his language at 
times which, if employed on a less momentous subject, 
would be deemed pertinacious. He recurs again and 
again, in simple and forcible terms, to his favorite 
topic, and hurls arrow after arrow at the same mark, 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 117 

that the shafts may not be sped in vain or launched 
into the air at a venture. " For I give you good doc- 
trine," says he, " forsake not my law. For I was 
my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight 
of rny mother. He taught me also, and said unto 
me, Let thine heart retain my words : keep my com- 
mandments and live. Get wisdom, get understand- 
ing : forget it not ; neither decline from the words of 
my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve 
thee : love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is 
the principal thing ; therefore get wisdom : and with 
all thy getting, get understanding." 

a Wisdom," now and always, my young friends, 
"is the principal thing," and with the getting of it 
there follow knowledge and discretion and under- 
standing. Yes, "wisdom is the principal thing" — 
that wisdom which instructs us how to conduct prop- 
erly the affairs of this life, as well as that higher wis- 
dom which involves the knowledge of our religious 
duties and the salvation of our immortal souls. The 
seminary of Christian learning is a place for the ac- 
quisition of wisdom, a place for laying the foundation 
of those sterling virtues and attainments which are 
to be of conspicuous service to the man in the future 
scenes and turmoils of life. I know there is a kind 
of public opinion in most schools not favorable to 
continuous and diligent study and to moral and re- 
ligious thought. Many boys appear to take it for 
granted that they are sent from home for any other 
purpose than that of education, and so they contrive 
in various ways to keep their teachers watchful and 
busy without adding much to their stock of know- 



118 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ledge, though they add largely to their stock of mis- 
chief. The escape from censure or punishment em- 
boldens them to proceed to more flagrant acts of 
insubordination, and they become in time leaders and 
heroes with that class amon^ whom a low tone of 
moral principle prevails. No head-master of an aca- 
demic institution can be expected, conscientiously, to 
allow long the retention of those who are clearly 
incapable of deriving advantage from his system, or 
whose influence on others is decidedly and extensively 
pernicious. He receives the young under his care, 
not to attempt the cure of incorrigibly bad habits, 
not to cage and tame them as wild animals are 
tamed, but to guide them with a gentle and friendly 
hand to the right and true sources of moral life, to 
give attention to their intellectual and physical edu- 
cation, to nurture their noble hopes and generous 
aspirations ; in a word, as far as it depends upon his 
own efforts, to see in the case of each pupil that it 
may be truly said of him, a wisdom entereth into his 
heart and knowledge is pleasant unto his soul." 

Many years have elapsed since there passed under 
my care here, during the brief period I was charged 
with the oversight of this Institution, some three 
hundred and fifty different youths. Their names are 
all entered in a private register which I keep, and 
now and then I recur to it and note, as they are 
brought to my knowledge, certain events of their 
lives and certain developments in their characters. 
It is wonderful to observe, in these instances, how 
generally the old adage has been verified, " the boy 
is father to the man ; " in other words, it is wonderful 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 119 

to observe how rarely the studious, industrious, and 
virtuous youth has failed to impress these characteris- 
tics upon his manhood, and to carry into his profession 
or his employment those elements and that energy 
which, with the blessing of Divine Providence, inva- 
riably command success. If there be one thing on 
earth which is truly admirable, it is to behold the 
fruits of early and virtuous education thus springing 
freshly along the paths of life and adorning the man, 
the patriot, the Christian. The best use should be 
made of all your power and privileges, and no lazy 
predictions, that those who fail in the preliminary 
course of instruction may redouble their diligence in 
after years and turn out well, should ever be allowed 
to set aside the sure standard of intellectual and moral 
progress. 

You are looking forward with pleasurable emo- 
tions, I doubt not, to the close of the term, when 
most of you will return to your respective homes and 
spend the Christmas vacation among your immediate 
friends. It will be a fit inquiry for them to entertain, 
whether you will come back to the parental roof with 
signs of improvement, with some degree of self respect 
and some desire for the respect and love of others ; 
and it is a proper subject for you to consider how far 
in this matter they shall be gratified — how far you 
will profit by the advantages which you possess, and 
move steadily on in the orbit of duty and diligence. 
I will suppose that the day of your departure has 
actually arrived. Your books are collected and laid 
aside for a season. Your trunks are packed, locked, 
strapped, and labeled, and as you all stand watching 



120 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

for the tardy coach or the lingering train, "feeling 
like a horse pawing the ground, impatient to be off," 
let the question be asked — let each one ask the 
question of himself — Has " wisdom entered into my 
heart and knowledge been pleasant unto my 80111"? 
Have I improved my time and my advantages, and 
depended as thoroughly upon myself as upon my 
teachers for progress and proficiency ? Am I going 
back to my home as virtuous and noble-minded as I 
came to this place ? Have I braced my character to 
greater beauty and firmness amid the scenes through 
which I have passed, and have I remembered always 
to heed that caution, as true morally as scripturally, 
" Evil communications corrupt good manners " ? 

" Of all the painful things connected with my em- 
ployment," said Dr. Arnold, head-master at Eugby, 
" nothing is equal to the grief of seeing a boy come 
to school innocent and promising, and of tracing the 
corruption of his character from the influence of the 
temptations around him, in the very place which ought 
to have strengthened and improved it. But in most 
cases those who come with a character of positive 
good are benefited ; it is the neutral and indecisive 
characters w r hich are apt to be decided for evil by 
schools, as they would be in fact by any other temp- 
tations." Experience and observation both tell us, 
my young friends, that the elements of the same cor- 
rupt nature are in us all, and he that has gone far- 
thest from his God went one step at a time. The very 
lowest degradation of the worst man living is but the 
result of the same wayward tendencies, and the way 
to check them in the outset is to penetrate the heart 



J 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 121 

with the lessons of wisdom, to cultivate a right con- 
science, and resolve to be always guided by its 
monitions. 

No large institution, like this, can be successfully 
conducted without employing several subordinate 
teachers, and it is not supposable that such teachers 
will attempt to educate and direct the minds and 
consciences of others, unless thev have consciences 
of their own. It would indicate a great degree of 
turpitude, to say nothing about the utter lack of 
religious feeling, if one should accept the post of an 
usher in an academic institution, be assigned to his 
department of duty, and receive wages for his work, 
and yet not be found at the same time thoroughly 
upholding the order and discipline of the establish- 
ment, and doing what he could to secure the moral 
and mental training of those who are brought under 
his instruction or his supervision. It would be like 
a subordinate officer on board of the ship failing to do 
his duty with the marines ; and, therefore, you are to 
consider these teachers, if ever they appear too exact- 
ing" and ris:id in the enforcement of the rules of the 
school, as acting from a conscientious regard to the 
directions of their Principal, and from a sincere desire 
to fulfill the whole responsibilities of their position. 

"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and 
knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall 
preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee." 

The profit of wisdom is especially manifested in 
the second verse of the text. When it has dominion 
over us, when it not only possesses the mind with its 
heavenly sanctions, but enters into the heart and has 



122 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

a commanding power and influence there, when it 
gives law to the affections and passions, and stands 
like a sentinel in all our paths, a crying without and 
uttering her voice in the streets," then surely we 
shall find its profit, for we shall be kept from wicked 
courses and "from the man that speaketh froward 
things." We shall have no wish for association side 
by side with those who, whatever their intellectual 
tastes and attainments, never can or never do say of 
wisdom, " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 
her paths are peace." It is to be feared that religion, 
in our day, has a frail hold upon the home life, and 
that many sons, when sent out into the world, bring 
distress upon their parents and disgrace upon them- 
selves, because they have not first learned to put 
on the armor in which they might resist tempta- 
tion and battle triumphantly with their spiritual foes. 
There is a beautiful expression of antiquity, "that 
the young among the people are like spring amid the 
seasons," but then the expression is all the more 
beautiful if the young be those whom " discretion 
shall preserve and understanding shall keep " — "shall 
preserve " from moral evil, and " keep " from beset- 
ting sins. There is nothing manly, there is nothing 
noble, never believe there is, in scorning the lessons 
of heavenly wisdom and making light of those who 
sincerely and steadily tread the walks of piety. We 
all love to see the upward growth in goodness, and no 
Christian parent is without much solicitude for the 
welfare of his child when he commits him tenderly to 
the guidance of new teachers, and prays, like Jabez, 
u more honorable than his brethren," that God * would 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 123 

bless him . . . and keep him from evil." " That is 
properly a nursery of vice where a boy unlearns the 
pure and honest principles which he may have re- 
ceived at home, and gets in their stead others which 
are utterly low and base and mischievous, where he 
loses his modesty, his respect for truth, and his affec- 
tionateness, and becomes coarse and false and unfeel- 
ing. That, too, is a nursery of vice, and most fear- 
fully so, where vice is bold and forward and perse- 
vering, and goodness is timid and shy, and existing 
as by sufferance — where the good, instead of setting 
the tone of society, and branding with disgrace those 
who disregard it, are themselves exposed to reproach 
for their goodness, and shrink before the open avowal 
of evil principles which the bad are striving to make 
the law of the community. That is a nursery of vice, 
where the restraints laid upon evil are considered as 
so much taken from liberty, and where, generally 
speaking, evil is more willingly screened and con- 
cealed than detected and punished. What society 
would be, if men regarded the laws of God and man 
as a grievance, and thought liberty consisted in fol- 
lowing to the full their proud and selfish and low in- 
clinations," 1 we cannot imagine, but certainly it would 
bear no meet resemblance to that happy state which 
the Gospel portrays as the portion and possession 
of the righteous. It is a wrong committed against 
God, against humanity, against the soul, to shut 
wisdom from the mind and take downward courses 
to moral evil. Even if we escape from its worst con- 
sequences by repentance before death comes to close 

1 Sermons in Rugby Chapel. 



124 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

our probation, it is a wrong in itself, which discretion 
and a better understanding must teach us to avoid. 
Illustrious men — not in the Church alone, but in the 
national councils — have dignified and adorned their 
names by accepting and cherishing the truths and 
consolations of the Christian religion. The great 
Daniel Webster, born in a humble cottage of New 
Hampshire, on what was then the outskirts of civiliza- 
tion, with no inheritance but poverty and an honored 
name, and subjected in early life to many disadvan- 
tages of education, worked his way up through the 
difficult and toilsome paths of youth and manhood 
to an eminence where it was acknowledged by his 
competitors that he stood alone — primus inter clarissi- 
mos — first among the noblest. A deeply religious 
parent had probably imbued the son with his own 
spirit, and whatever his errors and failings in after 
life — and, to his praise be it spoken, he never sought 
their apology — and however practically he fell below 
his conception of a disciple of Jesus, it must be ad- 
mitted that he was a Christian. When swaying courts 
and senates and enchaining multitudes by the power 
of his arguments and the splendor of his eloquence, 
he was a Christian, and no public man of our country 
has more frequently and more reverently recognized 
in his pleadings and addresses and speeches the great 
truths of a wise and superintending Providence, and 
the great hopes and principles of redemption. The 
distinguished Lord Lyndhurst, born in our own New 
England, 1 and the tidings of whose death have just 

1 He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 21, 1772, and three 
years afterwards was taken by his mother to England to join her hus- 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 125 

been wafted to us across the broad Atlantic, was for 
nearly half a century the most eloquent man in the 
British Parliament, if not in the world, and "held 
listening senates captive at his will." Crowned heads 
and noble lords and illustrious jurists, cultivated civil- 
ians and princely merchants and wealthy manufactur- 
ers bent in admiration before the fullness of his mind 
and the depth and wisdom of his counsels. Public 
life, we know, has its grievous and manifold tempta- 
tions, and the time of statesmen is so much absorbed in 
national subjects and the weightiest of human affairs, 
that, for the most part, they take too little thought of 
religious truth and duty. But great as this nobleman 
was, he bowed before the greatness of the Supreme 
Euler of the universe. He applied all the power of 
his marvelous and accomplished intellect and all his 
quickness of apprehension to the study and attain- 
ment of piety, and it gilded the evening of his days 
that nothing so called forth his perpetual gratitude to 
God as that he had enabled him, by extending his 
life far beyond the allotted period, to " redeem the 
time " and expand his Christian character. 

My young friends, let me entreat you to remember 
that the highest issue of all your attainments is the 
issue of everlasting blessedness. Wisdom and the 

band. The father, born also in Boston, was a self-taught and eminent 
portrait painter, who devoted himself to his profession in London. The 
son had the best advantages for education, and distinguished himself in 
Trinity College, Cambridge, by winning many prizes. His name — be- 
fore he was created Lord Lyndhurst — was John Singleton Copley, and 
he died October 12, 1863, in his ninety-second year. Some of his finest 
speeches in the House of Lords are said to have been made when he was 
beyond the age of eighty. 



126 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

pursuits of knowledge properly lead both to honor 
and happiness. " Length of days is in her right hand, 
and in her left hand riches and honor." No youth 
can bring the vigor of his resolution and the warmth 
and earnestness of his affections to the service of 
God without finding himself advantaged. He can- 
not forsake his sins, surrender the idle and criminal 
amusements of the world, and follow with a steady 
judgment and large faith the path of Christian holi- 
ness except wisdom be given to his purposes and 
glory crown his actions. Not that he is to become an 
ascetic and utterly relinquish the world. Humanity 
requires society, society requires that many of its 
pleasures and gratifications should be enjoyed, and 
religion, ever merciful, does not prohibit their enjoy- 
ment. They are the fragrant flowers, the very roses 
which God has strewn on this path of perplexity and 
care, and it would be ingratitude to trample them 
under our feet. Love and friendship, health and for- 
tune, the vicissitudes of the seasons, the fruits of the 
earth, the very air and light of Heaven, these are 
blessings for our enjoyment, and blessings to which 
religion lends her beauty and communicates a soul. 
Oh ! know God and render Him the service which 
He claims. It is His love that gives us all which we 
enjoy and shields us from numberless perils. It 
clothes the earth with verdure and crowns the hills 
with plenty. It feeds the gale of morning with in- 
cense and with health. It invests the beams of noon 
with splendor. It robes the parting day in mellowed 
glories, and gives to night her shades and her quiet — 
her safety and her repose. 



THE PROFIT OF WISDOM. 127 

May the benedictions of Him who called the young 
unto Him and blessed them descend upon all your 
heads. And may you now so weigh the importance 
of the great journey which stretches before you — the 
journey of human life — that you may find peace in 
its pursuit, and in the end honor and glory and bless- 
edness and immortality ! 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 

DISCOURSE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE LIFE OF THE REV- 
EREND STEPHEN JEWETT, M. A., IN ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, 
NEW HAVEN, SEPTEMBER 1, 1861. 

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens. II. Corinthians, v. 1. 

There is an instinctive feeling in human nature to 
shun the approach of dissolution. We pause on the 
brink of the stream that divides us from the unseen 
world, and hesitate to cross to the other side. We 
would linger here, even when our stay is saddened by 
grief and threatened with new perils, and great and 
manifold perplexities. We naturally quail and shrink 
in view of the despotism of death. Unless some 
mighty impulse lifts us above its terrors and directs 
our minds to the contemplation of future and eternal 
realities, we must dread the hour that shall close our 
eyes forever to earthly scenes, and bring us to the 
gates of the grave. 

And such a mighty impulse the Christian has in the 
simple faith that moulds and fashions his religious 
character. For this faith teaches him that, beyond 
the regions of death, there is a better inheritance in 
heaven for the righteous. He who brought life and 
immortality to light in the Gospel proclaims to each 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 129 

and all of his followers, " I am the Resurrection and 
the Life. He that believeth in me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and be- 
lieveth in me shall never die." We are not left, then, 
my brethren, to the cold doubts of skepticism, when 
we lay our righteous friends in the graves of the 
earth. Christianity supplies what was wholly want- 
ing in the calculations of Natural Theology, and to 
her teachings we are indebted for " the comfort of a 
reasonable, religious, and holy hope," and for our 
certain knowledge of the future and eternal reunion 
of soul and body. 

As Christian believers we are permitted to share 
the confidence of St. Paul, so emphatically expressed 
in the text, and to say with him, in the immediate 
prospect of dissolution, "For we know that if our 
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we 
have a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." 

There is evidently an allusion in this passage to the 
ancient Jewish tabernacle, which, on all removals of 
the congregation, was taken down, and the ark of the 
covenant, covered with its own curtains, borne by it- 
self. When the Hebrews came to a place of rest and 
encampment, the parts were reunited, and the taber- 
nacle restored as before. St. Paul, who treats so 
largely of the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection 
in this and his other Epistles, puts the shifting tent in 
opposition to the enduring mansion, — the vile body 
of flesh and blood to the spiritual body of the glorified 
saint. His simile will bear the construction, that as 
the tabernacle was taken down only to be put together 



130 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

again, so the body dissolved in death is to be raised 
incorruptible and "clothed upon with our house which 
is from heaven." The Apostles and early disciples 
were wonderfully sustained under their complicated 
trials and sufferings by this promise of the Resurrec- 
tion, and by the sure hope of eternal glory. They 
knew in whom and in what they believed. They 
saw with the eye of faith, beyond the regions of mor- 
tality, "a building of God, — a house not made with 
hands," — and it reconciled them to every sorrow and 
every privation, that this house was theirs to enjoy 
when the perils of life were passed and its labors all 
closed. If it were the end of us to be laid in the 
grave, — if what constitutes the man were just left to 
waste in its gloomy portals, if there were no Resur- 
rection and no Judgment, small would be our comfort 
or our support in the last hour. But it is not the 
end. The body may indeed moulder to dust in the 
grave, but this thinking, hoping, believing spirit 
within us is not there to participate in its corruption 
and decay. The two component parts of our nature 
have been separated; one is commingling with its 
native dust, and the other, the conscious, immaterial 
soul, has returned to God who gave it. It dwells not 
upon earth ; but lives in immortality, in the immedi- 
ate presence of God and in the enjoyment of the 
Redeemer and his departed saints. There, sheltered 
from all the misfortunes and troubles of earth, it 
awaits the perfect consummation in bliss. In the 
morning of the great Resurrection, not only shall the 
body, the grosser component of our nature, be rescued 
from the abasements of the grave, but it shall be beau- 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 131 

tified, invigorated, and adorned. "Sown in corrup- 
tion, it shall be raised in incorruption. Sown in dis- 
honor, it shall be raised in glory. Sown in weakness, 
it shall be raised in power. Sown a natural body, it 
shall be raised a spiritual body." There is a natural 
body and there is a spiritual body. Hence it is a 
Christian thing to die remembering that, when the 
moment of reunion arrives, one's own dust, wherever 
it may be, and however it may be scattered, shall seek 
its kindred dust, and the soul come down to possess 
its reconstructed " tabernacle." The whole man thus 
living again will pass to the tribunal of the general 
judgment, to " receive the things done in his body 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." 

It seems hardly necessary to enlarge here upon the 
fact " that our earthly house of this tabernacle ,! ' is 
frail, so frail that we cannot know the period of its 
dissolution. We behold on every side the marks of 
decay. To introduce another figure, we see a thou- 
sand avenues leading to the a valley of the shadow of 
death," and by some one of them we are all approach- 
ing its borders. We cannot be certain that we are not 
already on the slope and descending, for " who shall 
tell what a day may bring forth ? " Death is that which 
baffles all human calculations. Men may permit the 
cares of life, their relationships, their enjoyments, and 
their engagements to deaden their apprehensions of 
this solemn event ; but it will come, and come as likely 
in one stage of their pilgrimage as another. It comes 
to the infant enfolded in a mother's arms. It strikes 
down the ruddy youth in the glow of health. It 



132 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

meets the traveler as he pursues his lonely journey. 
It approaches the man of business while he stands at 
the desk of his counting-room. It enters the happy 
household and suddenly removes a cherished inmate, 
a loved one who seemed its joy and its hope, or its 
stay and its staff. It spares no age, nor sex, nor con- 
dition. Oh ! this is the record of human life, always 
passing away, — always reading to us sorrowful les- 
sons of its frailness and instability. Sometimes dis- 
ease, by long and painful premonitions, gives notice 
of the advent of death. Many an aged believer, 
when his work of life is over and sickness or debility 
has laid him by, waits, like the patriarch Job, " all 
the days of his appointed time," patiently expecting 
his " change to come." As some old family mansion, 
crumbling into decay yet spared and respected for 
the good it has done and the kind shelter it has 
afforded, so he stands, the venerable object of filial 
affection and the grateful care of a new generation. 
He stands on that eminence of prospect to which 
the Gospel of God has raised him, looking back with- 
out repining, and forward with cheerful, Christian 
hope. 

Your thoughts, my brethren, in this connection, will 
turn to an aged servant of the Lord Jesus Christ who 
has just passed from among us, and of whose life and 
work in the ministry it is fitting that a brief sketch 
should be given. 

The Rev. Stephen Jewett was born in Lanesboro', 
Massachusetts, August 18, 1783. His parents were 
originally Congregationalists, but about the time of 
his birth his father withdrew from that communion 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 133 

and connected himself nominally with the Episcopal 
Church. He withdrew because, in renewing the cov- 
enant, he could not accede to all the doctrines as held 
by the Congregational Church in Lanesboro', — espe- 
cially those in regard to Calvinism, — the Church 
having at first received him on terms that did not 
require a subscription to these peculiar tenets. Ste- 
phen was baptized with his sister, when of mature 
age, by the Rev. Amos Pardee, at that time rector of 
the Episcopal Church in Lanesboro'. Naturally fond 
of reading, and to a considerable extent self-taught 
in the rudiments of an English education, he assisted 
his father in his humble occupation, until failing 
health compelled him, at the age of twenty-three, to 
look for other and lighter labors in life. Mr. Pardee 
was his first instructor in the preliminary course of 
classical studies. Teaching a common school in the 
winter, that he might have the means of returning 
to his books in the summer, he at length found his 
way to the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, that insti- 
tution being then in the zenith of its prosperity, and 
serving to the Church the double purpose of a college 
and a theological seminary. Here he regained, in a 
measure, his health, and passed four years a diligent 
and successful student. At the end of his first sum- 
mer in Cheshire he resumed teaching the common 
school in Dalton, Massachusetts, the same place where 
he had previously taught, but now at greatly advanced 
wages. He had scarcely entered upon his engage- 
ment before he received a letter from Dr. Bowden, 
Professor in Columbia College, New York, offering 
assistance to the amount of $100 per annum if he 



134 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

would immediately return to the Academy, and prose- 
cute without interruption his studies. As soon as 
he could get released, the offer was gratefully ac- 
cepted, and by this means, and by the liberality of 
other friends, he was enabled to complete his educa- 
tion without incurring a debt beyond $150, which, he 
was afterwards pleased to say, he discharged in the 
first year of his ministry. 

He was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Jarvis, in 
Trinity Church, New Haven, September 15, 1811, and 
his death leaves but two survivors in Connecticut 
ordained by that prelate, both of whom — one in a 
green old age, 1 and the other just ready to depart 2 
— still linger at the scenes of their youthful min- 
istry. He was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop 
Hobart, October 5, 1813, together with Dr. Wyatt, 
of Baltimore. His life as a clergyman was com- 
menced in Pawlet, Vermont, September 29, 1811, 
and in Hampton, New York, the 13th of the ensuing 
month. To this latter place he removed after the 
first winter, and with true filial affection received into 
his house and under his care and protection his pa- 
rents, both now aged and infirm. Though his cure 
was large enough to demand his entire attention, yet 
in the then scarcity of Episcopal clergymen he was a 
missionary for all the region from Fort Edward on 
the south to Plattsburgh on the north. I have heard 
him say that a child had been brought to him the 
distance of one hundred miles to be baptized, and 
that he had himself gone forty to attend a funeral. 

1 Rev. Frederick Holcomb, D. D., Watertown. 

2 Rev. David Baldwin, Guilford. 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 135 

This was not in the day of railroads, but of slow 
stages and private conveyances. A faithful ministry 
running through a period of ten years in the same 
place left its abiding marks, and the house of worship 
in Hampton, commenced by all denominations, with 
the understanding that it should belong to the body 
that would finish it, was through his influence com- 
pleted and quietly surrendered to the Episcopalians. 
He gathered a congregation and finished a brick 
church, of which he laid the corner-stone, in Granville, 
New York, — the Episcopalians of Pawlet having no 
edifice and coming to that place to worship ; and 
when he left in the autumn of 1821, and removed to 
Connecticut, hoping thereby to strengthen his health, 
the new parish numbered eighty communicants. His 
ministrations in this diocese were begun at Derby, 
December 9, 1821, and for thirteen years he divided 
his time between St. James's Church, in that town, 
and Union (now Trinity) Church, Humphreysville. 
He succeeded the patriarchal Mansfield in the rector- 
ship, the Rev. Calvin White, who became a pervert to 
Rome, having been only an assistant minister. Divi- 
sions had sprung up in the parish at Derby, and the 
Bishop, in noticing his appointment to the charge, 
spoke of these divisions as likely to " be healed by 
his conciliating and pious labors." Few know the 
secret anxiety of a conscientious rector who gives his 
best days and strength to the welfare of his flock. 
There are those who measure life by great achieve- 
ments, and who seem to think it little for a man, in a 
quiet way and in humble fear of God, to " do the 
work of an evangelist and make full proof of his min- 



136 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

istry." Public admiration is by no means a sure test 
of usefulness. Sympathy with the personal appeals 
and ministrations of the clergyman is better, for this 
carries along with it a very close and binding affinity. 
Christian people forget flights of the imagination and 
bursts of artificial oratory, but they never forget the 
earnest pastor, with the tones of whose voice are as- 
sociated many of their most pleasing and hallowed 
recollections ; the pastor who guided their devotions, 
cleared away their difficulties, pointed their path to 
heaven, and first opened to them the plan of salva- 
tion, and by his arguments and his expostulations im- 
pressed them with the duty of denying themselves, 
taking up the cross, and following Christ. 

Mr. Jewett in Derby — like his contemporaries in 
the other parts of Connecticut — had a flock to feed 
and a fold to defend. The old Puritan prejudices 
against the Church, her doctrines and her liturgy, 
seemed to freshen up in the diocese after the acces- 
sion of Dr. Brownell to the Episcopate, and the defec- 
tion of Mr. White — sowing, as it did, among his 
people, the seeds of mischief — made it all the more 
necessary for his successor to be vigilant, cautious, 
godly, and firm. I believe there are many now liv- 
ing who would cheerfully testify to his fidelity, and 
to his abundant and unselfish labors in building up 
and strengthening an ancient and broken parish. For 
two years before he resigned his cure and removed 
to this city, he showed his generous heart by relin- 
quishing his salary, Providence having thrown into his 
hands the means of support without calling upon his 
people. But this was a step which he ever afterwards 



.THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 137 

regretted as wholly unwise. The laborer in the 
Lord's vineyard is worthy of his hire, and it is no ex- 
cuse for the people to withhold it from him, that he 
is not actually in a state of starvation. There never 
was a clergyman who had so large an income that he 
could not find ways to dispense it all in charity. In 
addition to his parochial cares, Mr. Jewett, for much 
of his time, in Derby as in Hampton, had a family 
school, and several of our clergy are indebted to him 
for instruction in the preliminary course of classical 
studies. 

In 1823 he w r as appointed an agent to visit those 
parishes in the diocese that had not paid their assess- 
ments to create the Bishop's Fund, and to confer and 
settle with them in such way as seemed equitable or 
expedient under the circumstances, — a troublesome 
matter, my brethren, which the Connecticut Church- 
men of this generation may be thankful was not en- 
tailed upon them for adjustment. 

Upon his removal to this city in 1834, though in 
feeble health, he did not altogether retire from the 
public duties of the ministry. He continued to offi- 
ciate, with intervals of prostration by sickness, for five 
years, acting some months as an assistant in Trinity 
Church, but rendering for the most of this period gra- 
tuitous services to the parishes at West Haven, West- 
ville, and Fair Haven. He revived the first of these, 
and projected the other two. For the last twenty 
years of his life an excessive nervous debility and 
many infirmities compelled him to cease his public 
ministrations, so that he did little more in the mean 
time than fulfill his office as a trustee of those diocesan 



138 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and general institutions of the Church in which he 
had long been interested. 

But to his praise it must be spoken that he never, 
in his retirement, became secularized, and fixed his 
thoughts on stocks and bonds and profitable invest- 
ments. He had no passion for accumulation, no desire 
to make ventures for greater gains ; but his taste for 
reading, formed in his youth and fed in his manhood, 
was the delight and satisfaction of his declining years. 
Until his eyesight failed him, he perused, with the 
eagerness and interest of an active pastor, the books 
and publications that kept him informed of the Church, 
her work and her progress throughout our country, 
and throughout the world. Frank and outspoken in 
his opinions, he had no patience with those who in- 
clined to be Jesuitical, and to find reasons for depart- 
ing from the good old Scriptural lines and landmarks 
of our faith. He had an especial dislike of the theo- 
logical fancies that sprung from the Oxford move- 
ment, and his visit to Europe in 1840 did not weaken 
his belief that this whole movement was of a Roman- 
izing tendency. 

He was given to hospitality, and many of our 
deceased and living clergy have found in his house 
acceptable rest and refreshment. He was liberal in 
his charities, and wisely gave in his lifetime what he 
would to promote objects of humanity, learning, and 
religion. His founding of a scholarship in Trinity 
College, a quarter of a century ago, was up to that 
point the largest individual gift which the Institution 
had received. It is too true, my brethren, that many 
whom God blesses with an abundance of earthly 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 139 

riches and prosperity withhold more than is meet, 
and so repay with a slender gratitude the bounty of 
a beneficent Providence. But it is a false notion 
which some Christian people appear to entertain, that 
a clergyman inheriting wealth must and can, for this 
very reason, open his heart and his hand to every 
charitable appeal. Men in business, merchants who 
are princes, may return to the Lord the whole gains 
of trade ; but any one, be he clergyman or layman, 
coming into the possession and enjoyment of prop- 
erty intended for others, can hardly justify himself 
in scattering it all, and then quoting the Scripture, 
" Cast thy bread upon the waters and thou shalt 
find it after many days." The liberality of Mr. 
Jewett to this parish is part of its history. It was 
extended at an opportune moment, and it is due to 
him and his family to say that the "free gift " of two 
thousand dollars " for the glory of God and the ben- 
efit of His Church," was an incitement which we all 
felt and moved under when, soon after, we struck 
down, by one large subscription, nearly the half of 
our indebtedness. An extract from his letter ad- 
dressed to the rector, wardens, and vestrymen of the 
Church, notifying them of the donation, and dated 
Epiphany, 1857, will indicate his feeling on the 
subject : — 

" I have watched your work from the beginning 
with the deepest interest, and have lived to see it 
completed and crowned, I trust, with God's blessing. 
At my age, and with imperfect health, I cannot expect 
a long continuance here, or to share very often, as I 
would desire, the privileges of public worship ; but be 



140 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

assured the parish of which you are the guardians will 
never cease to have my warmest wishes and prayers 
for both its temporal and spiritual prosperity." 

He was not indeed privileged to come " very often " 
to this sanctuary to worship. He was with us for 
the last time on the morning of our tenth anniver- 
sary (Easter, 1858), and heard me review the history 
of our pastoral connection, with all its work and care 
and responsibility. But from that period he began 
to feel the weight of his infirmities, and " fears were 
in the way," and the grasshopper became a burden. 
No stranger would have believed, seeing him a year 
since, that he could pass a week beyond his seventy- 
eighth birthday before sinking to his final rest in 
the grave. 

I ought not to close this discourse without refer- 
ring briefly to another trait in his character, which 
evinced his humility, and also his gratitude to God. 
He seemed never to forget anybody or anything. He 
loved to recall the friends of his youth, and the toils 
and self-denials and associations of his early life. Nine 
years ago I spent a summer's week with him among 
his native hills in Berkshire County. It was his last 
visit to the familiar scenes of his boyhood, and he 
used it well in searching for his old acquaintances, 
and in refreshing his varied recollections of persons 
and places. It was wonderful to note the eagerness 
with which he would enter the buggy and ask me 
each morning to drive in some direction not more 
interesting to him than new and delightful to me. 
As we passed over the road from Pittsfield to Lanes- 
boro' he frequently begged me to stop, that he might 



THE TABERNACLE DISSOLVED. 141 

call my attention to objects of special interest, or 
inquire for friends and acquaintances whom he had 
known in his youth. " Yonder," said he, pointing to 
a large farmhouse that appeared in the distance, " was 
the paternal home of three brothers in our ministry, 
the Clarks, William, Orrin, and John, and there the 
latter was born. And here," when we had reached 
the valley below, " is the site of the mill where I 
aided my father in his hardy toil ; " and then, turning 
to a row of aged willows that dipped their pendent 
branches in the stream, he added, " I helped to plant 
those trees. How they have grown, and how all the 
face of this region has changed ! The hills, the ever- 
lasting hills, are here, but the rest is not as it was in 
my boyhood." 

Other thoughts of a like nature might be intro- 
duced to illustrate the same trait in his character. 
But it is time for me to pause. We go now to the 
table of our Lord ; and may He who has " knit to- 
gether his elect in one communion and fellowship in 
the mystical body of His Son " give us grace to " fol- 
low His blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living." 
While we bury these old men out of our sight, let us 
not forget to profit by every part of their example, 
and especially to be encouraged in adversity by their 
Christian patience and perseverance. If they had 
their trials, their solicitudes, their cares, and their 
responsibilities, in a day when the Church was every- 
where spoken against, we have ours. We live in 
times that call for watchfulness, for prayerfulness, for 
prudence, for self-denial, for activity and piety. Let 
us decline no service really demanded of us for 



142 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Christ's sake. In whatever scenes we are invited to 
act, and however we are made to suffer, let us remem- 
ber " His cross and passion, His precious death and 
burial.' ' We shall one day stand before Him in His 
glory, and have every measure of our faith and every 
secret or self-denying work exposed by the bright- 
ness of His presence. Let us all, then, so live and do 
our whole duty that we may come at last to the full 
and exalted fruition of the Divine promises, even of 
the truth expressed in the text : " If our earthly house 
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building 
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 



MEMOEIAL DISCOURSE 

ON BISHOP BROWNELL, IN ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, NEW 
HAVEN, JANUARY 22, 1865 

But the righteous hath hope in his death. — Proverbs xiv. 32. 

Hope not only of deliverance from the terrors of 
judgment, but hope of better things in the future 
life, hope of lasting happiness on the other side of the 
grave. The images employed in Scripture to repre- 
sent the work of the Christian are, indeed, expressive 
of most intense and sustained effort towards an attain- 
ment which, after all, may not be realized. Some of 
them speak of a battle that requires armor burnished 
by constant use ; of a race which many run, but in 
which few will gain the prize ; and others of a narrow 
path along which many seek to pass through the gate 
of life and are not able. 

The Apostle Peter, without employing any figure, 
gives an impressive warning to all when he asks, " If 
the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the un- 
godly and the sinner appear?" Now, however earnest 
and unwearied be the efforts and the strivings that 
are demanded of the successful seeker after salvation, 
it is yet true that the " righteous," and the righteous 
alone, " hath hope in his death." Hope is a staff on 
which we lean for support and encouragement in 



144 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

many of the difficulties and misfortunes of life. It 
cheers us in trouble. It nerves us in sickness. It 
holds up our goings in the paths, and with it we walk 
onward through the day of our probation. But hope 
in death, — how enviable is the possession ! I fix my 
fading vision upon the kingdom of my God and Sa- 
viour. I turn the eye of faith to those prepared man- 
sions of which the merest outline is sketched in the 
records of inspiration, and, well-persuaded that in 
the comparison with these all enjoyments and honors 
here are as nothing, my grateful soul is kindled with 
heavenly hope, and I bless in death the bond that 
binds me to the promises. With the Psalmist I 
exclaim, " And now, Lord, what wait I for ? Surely 
my hope is even in thee. I have trusted in thy 
mercy : my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation." 
Many of the holy fathers of the Jewish Church are 
represented as placing a delightful and unshaken con- 
fidence in the security of God's promises and in the 
extent of His mercy. The death-beds of patriarchs 
and prophets, who lived when there were yet but 
dim notices of a world beyond the grave, seem to 
have been lightened with divine glory, if not with 
the hope of a blessed immortality. When the patri- 
arch Joseph had wellnigh finished his eventful life in 
Egypt, and, with a vast inheritance of wealth and of 
honor to transmit to his posterity, was making men- 
tion by faith in his dying hour of the departure of the 
children of Israel, and giving commandment concern- 
ing his bones, I believe that he had some faint inti- 
mation of the truth of a resurrection, and that the 
yearnings of his parting spirit after Canaan were not 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 145 

unconnected with the grave giving up its dead. I 
cannot but feel, as I follow Moses in thought from the 
base of Abarim to the summit of Pisgah — the mount 
where he was to die and be gathered unto his fathers, 
— that this lawgiver and man of God climbs not that 
rugged eminence merely that he may gladden his 
eye with a glorious development of scenery, and sat- 
isfy himself by actual inspection of the goodliness of 
the heritage which Israel was about to possess ; but 
that he ascended thither at God's command to look 
forward into the future — to catch another glimpse of 
redemption, and thus to have " hope in his death." 

Eisrhteous men never have been and never will be 
forsaken of the Lord. They are privileged to expect 
His remembrance and care. The immediate followers 
of Christ contemplated the prospects which opened to 
them in another life in strains of holy triumph. " We 
know," said they, " that if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; 
therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst 
we are at home in the body, we are absent from the 
Lord. We are confident and willing rather to be ab- 
sent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 
For we know in whom we have believed, and that he 
is able to keep that which is committed unto him till 
that day." And again, " death, where is thy sting ! 
grave, where is thy victory ! The sting of death is 
sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be 
to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

These are the triumphant notes, brethren, which 

10 



146 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

are to be sent onward through all time. We repeat 
them in jour hearing this morning, that you may be 
stirred to Christian duty and to the imitation of those 
godly men from whose lips they came. None of you, 
I know, would be "driven away in his wickedness;" 
but are you all, by prayer and divine help, seeking 
and striving to be " righteous," that you may have 
" hope in death " ? You are interested in the things 
that pertain to the gratifications and enjoyments of 
this life, you press for prizes which do your souls no 
good when they are won, and you toil for the advance- 
ment of objects that are quite removed from that 
righteousness which exalteth the individual and the 
nation. But your zeal for the Lord of Hosts, and for 
the ark of His testimony — is this always bright and 
burning ? Alas ! I stand in my place here and look 
over this sanctuary, and from Sunday to Sunday I 
note how the cushions of this and that sitting are 
impressed by those who should be their occupants ; 
and yet when I go out into the streets and thorough- 
fares of our city, I find these same men all life, all 
energy, all enthusiasm in their private business or in 
the public interests of the day. God forbid that I 
should speak a word to stay the honest industry of a 
single worker in the community ; but you who value 
the welfare of your immortal souls, the welfare of 
your children — you who shrink from the wrath of the 
Great King, you who consider the declarations of 
the sacred volume not as the fictions of the preacher, 
but as the verities of heaven — you know that this is 
not the way, and these are not the men, to adorn the 
walks of personal piety, to win eternal salvation and 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 147 

have "hope in their death." Consecrated to the 
Lord, it ought to be the steady object and desire of 
us all to live to His glory and to the benefit of His 
Church and people. And for our perpetual encour- 
agement in such a high and righteous enterprise, let 
us never forget the great reward, the fullness of joy 
which they are to receive who become in truth sons 
and daughters of the Lord Almighty. It is but a little 
time, at the longest, vouchsafed us for Christian work. 
Every day and every hour add to the list of those 
who are either driven away in their wickedness or 
close their probation in hope. 

Since this Discourse was commenced, a venerable 
father in Israel has been removed from the scenes of 
mortality, and thus the general assembly and church 
of the firstborn has received into its capacious bosom 
another of those whose names are written in heaven. 
The diocese has been bereaved of its Episcopal head, 
and the Church throughout our land of its Senior and 
Presiding Bishop. Though for many years he had 
been languishing under the infirmities of age, and 
unable to discharge the full duties of his office, yet he 
still lived fresh in the affections of his clergy and of 
all who knew him, and was revered and esteemed for 
his good example, his simple virtues and unostenta- 
tious piety, not less than for his official character, his 
uniform prudence and accurate knowledge of human 
nature. The lustre which Christian learning throws 
over talents and over station beautified the evening 
of his days, and the dignity and grace of his manners, 
which had always commanded respect and excited 
affection in the circles of rank and affluence, lingered 
to the last. 



1148 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Having passed through nearly the whole of my 
classical course of four years under his direction as the 
President of Trinity College, having been ordained 
by him first to the Diaconate, and then, when I was 
thought to have purchased to myself " a good degree " 
in that office, to the Priesthood, and having occupied 
all the years of my ministry under his Episcopal over- 
sight, it will not be improper for me now to speak at 
some length in sketching his life and character. 

In Westport, Massachusetts, near the line which di- 
vides that Commonwealth from Rhode Island, Bishop 
Brownell was born, on the 19th of October, 1779. 
He was the eldest of a large family whose parents 
were of the dominant Ecclesiastical order in New 
England, and his early education was such as a farm- 
er's son might acquire in those days, until he became 
a student in the Academy at Taunton, preparatory 
to a collegiate course. At the age of twenty-one 
he entered the freshman class in Brown University; 
but at the end of two years he followed his friend, 
the President (Dr. Maxcy), who had been induced to 
accept the same office from the trustees of Union 
College, Schenectady. Here he graduated with the 
highest honors of his class in 1804, and the next year 
was made a tutor in Latin and Greek, and subse- 
quently Professor of Moral Philosophy and Belles- 
Lettres. In 1809, when the chair of Chemistry and 
Mineralogy was founded in that Institution, he was 
chosen to fill it, and was permitted to spend some time 
traveling in Great Britain to collect materials and 
apparatus for his new department. He was fulfilling 
his duties as a professor when he was baptized and 






MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 149 

confirmed in the Church, and turned his attention to 
its sacred ministry, devoting his leisure hours to the 
study of theology. He was ordained Deacon and 
Priest by Bishop Hobart in 1816, and for two years 
officiated occasionally in the college and rendered 
missionary services on Sundays to destitute congrega- 
tions in the vicinity. On the 11th of June, 1818, he 
was chosen one of the assistant ministers of Trinity 
Church, New York; but he had scarcely held the 
office a year before he was elected, with entire 
unanimity, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in Connecticut. The diocese had been vacant since 
the death of Bishop Jarvis in 1813, the Convention, 
either being unable to agree upon a suitable candi- 
date, or indisposed to elect until the Fund should 
be sufficiently increased to yield a respectable salary 
to support the Episcopate. Once, in 1815, 1 a choice 
was made of a New Jersey Presbyter, 2 though not 
consummated. But in the following year the diocese, 
through its Convention, w r as canonically placed under 
the provisional charge of Bishop Hobart of New York, 
and his oversight and visitations were as acceptable in 
Connecticut as in his own State. One w T eek after his 
fortieth birthday Dr.Brownell was consecrated in Trin- 
ity Church in this city, beneath the chancel of which 
repose the mortal remains of his predecessor, 3 and he 

1 Bishop Griswold was present at this Convention, having been previ- 
ously invited by the Standing Committee to perform Episcopal duties in 
the Diocese, but the Committee, being annually chosen, had no power to 
make arrangements beyond the meeting of the Convention, and the Con- 
vention elected a Bishop. 

2 Rev. John Croes, D. D., elected the same year Bishop of New 
Jersey. 

3 Bishop Jarvis. 



150 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

was soon, if not already, settled here with his family to 
discharge the duties of his Episcopal office. The zeal 
of the diocese freshened up under his active services, 
and the General Theological Seminary, not flourishing 
as originally established in New York, was transferred 
to New Haven in 1820, reorganized, and the students 
placed under his instructions in the delivery of ser- 
mons and the department of Pastoral Theology. But 
by a vote of a Special General Convention, the Sem- 
inary was returned to New York the next year, and 
merged with a local one already established in that 
diocese, the motive for this step being to secure a 
legacy of some $60,000, left by a benevolent layman 
for such a purpose. The Churchmen of Connecticut 
who, at the close of the last century, planted an 
institution of classical learning in Cheshire, and after- 
wards obtained an act of incorporation for it, had been 
petitioning the General Assembly from time to time 
for an enlargement of the charter, empowering the 
trustees to confer degrees in the arts, divinity, and 
law, and to enjoy all other privileges usually granted 
to colleges. The petition had been as often denied ; 
but upon the return of the Theological Seminary to 
New York, fresh and more strenuous exertions were 
made to attain the same object, and fortunately the 
period intervening between the last petition and these 
exertions had witnessed important political changes, 
such as the adoption of a new State Constitution, — 
and the consequent breaking down of the reigning 
dynasty, — changes which undoubtedly prepared the 
way for more liberal legislation. The charter was 
granted in 1823, and Trinity College — at first bear- 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 151 

ing another name (Washington) — was located in the 
city of Hartford. The erection of the College build- 
ings was commenced in June, 1824, the business of 
instruction in September of the same year, and Bishop 
Brownell, who had been chosen President, removed 
to that city to enter upon his enlarged duties. Long 
experience in Academic discipline had made him ac- 
quainted with the responsibilities of the office, and for 
seven years he filled it with a dignity and wisdom 
which the seventy-nine graduates of that period can 
never forget. The college was his favorite institu- 
tion, not less as a nursery of learning than of the 
ministry of the Church, and around it hung his affec- 
tions and his prayers. He was withdrawn from the 
administration of it by the desire of the diocese, when 
the number of parishes in Connecticut was increasing 
and more Episcopal supervision was needed. 

During his residence in New Haven, Bishop Brown- 
ell prepared and published his Commentary on the 
Book of Common Prayer, — a valuable standard work, 
the best of its kind for general use among the mem- 
bers of our communion, and a second edition of which 
was issued in 1841. His " Exposition of the New 
Testament," and his " Religion of the Heart and Life," 
in five small volumes, are excellent compilations, 
which had their influence in a day when the publica- 
tion of books was more limited than now. But his 
occasional sermons, and his addresses and charges to 
the clergy of the diocese, are the productions by 
which he will be the longest and best remembered. 
Full of Christian wisdom, of paternal counsel — writ- 
ten with care, and in a style of simple elegance and 



152 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

classic purity — they bear the stamp of those memo- 
rials more enduring than brass. 

Before his health failed him he made two mission- 
ary tours in the Southwest, spending a portion of his 
winters in New Orleans, and was the instrument of 
gathering and organizing parishes in places where 
the Church was unknown, but where it had risen to 
influence and importance before civil war had spread 
throughout that region its terrors and its desolations. 
On the decease of Bishop Philander Chase, in the 
autumn of 1852, he became the presiding Bishop of 
the Church in the United States, and, if the infirmities 
of age prevented him from being very active in that 
position, he had no unfortunate mistakes to mourn 
over, when he surrendered it at death into other 
hands. In 1851 he called for the election of an 
Assistant Bishop. "It will be remembered," said he 
in his Annual Address to the Convention of that year, 
" that owing to bodily infirmities which disabled me 
from preaching, and which were a hindrance in the 
performance of other Episcopal duties, I brought this 
subject to the consideration of the Convention six 
years ago. Difficulties were felt at that time, in re- 
gard to the selection of a suitable candidate for the 
office, as well as in regard to his support ; and after 
due deliberation it was decided to defer the further 
consideration of the matter. Believing that the diffi- 
culties which then existed may now, in some good 
degree, be obviated ; feeling that the weight of six 
additional years has accumulated upon the infirmities 
which then beset me, and being now in the seventy- 
second year of my age, I feel myself justified in bring- 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 153 

ing this subject once more to the consideration of the 
Convention of the Diocese." 

The request was granted, and a Presbyter was 
chosen to that high office, who has executed it with 
singular fidelity, and who henceforth takes all its cares 
and responsibilities. But Bishop Brownell did not by 
any means cease his interest in the prosperity of the 
Church, nor quite suspend his official labors. He 
continued to visit the more convenient parishes and 
to preside at the annual conventions of the diocese. 
His last Episcopal act in New Haven was the conse- 
cration of St. Thomas's Church, in Easter week, 1855, 

— an event, my brethren, which we recur to with 
renewed joy, as time goes on. The infirmities which 
oppressed him so much when his assistant was chosen 
bore more heavily upon him in his decline, and he has 
been these many years like a servant with his loins 
girt waiting for the coming of his Master. He was the 
fifteenth bishop consecrated in these United States; 
and of all our prelates, with the exception of the pa- 
triarchal and saintly White, whose Episcopate reached 
into the fiftieth year, he held the staff of his office the 
longest, and there is not a bishop now in our mother, 
the Church of England, who has carried it so long. 
Of the clergy present at the special Convention held 
here, on the day preceding his consecration, only four 
remain, — three of them still residing in the diocese 1 

— and the other a visiting clergyman from Pennsyl- 
vania ; 2 but of the forty lay delegates who composed 
that body, not one is known to be living. So great 

1 Rev. Dr. Frederick and Origen P. Holcomb, and Rev. Alpheus Geer. 

2 Rev. William A. Muhlenberg, D. D. 



154 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

are the changes which death produces in the silent 
lapse of forty-five years. Of the more than fifteen 
thousand persons upon whom he had laid his hands in 
the Apostolic rite of Confirmation, and prayed the 
Lord to "defend them with his heavenly grace," a vast 
number have preceded him to the world of spirits, as 
have also full one third of those to whom he had given 
authority to execute the office of Deacons and Priests 
in the Church of God. 

If it is the sad feeling of lengthened age that it 
finds itself standing, like a solitary column, amid 
desolate ruins, it is yet its privilege to rejoice that it 
has witnessed the progress of human events and 
human society, and that it still survives, a connecting 
link between the days of adversity and the years of 
prosperity. At the time when Bishop Brownell was 
invested with the oversight of this diocese, there were 
but seven parishes in it capable of supporting full 
services, the rest being united in cures and imper- 
fectly sustained. Trinity Church, in this city, the cor- 
ner-stone of which was laid in 1814, was the first and 
only one of all our edifices built in stone, — thanks to 
the projectors for such a noble specimen of architec- 
ture ; and so little, in those days, was thought of 
warming the house of God by artificial means, that it 
was constructed, I am told, without reference to this 
end. 1 Thirty-five clergymen, scattered along the 
shore towns and back in the interior of the State, led 

1 " In the summer season I frequently visited some neighboring vacant 
parish and officiated ; but generally I attended Trinity Church, of which 
Dr. Harry Croswell was rector. In the winter the building was exces- 
sively cold, as the practice of warming places of worship had not then 
been introduced in Connecticut." Dr. Turner's Autobiography, p. 105. 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 155 

their thin flocks, and ministered to them in the rude 
wooden edifices, erected for the most part before the 
storms of the Revolution. 

But what a change in these respects had he lived 
to witness, — the whole of which was accomplished 
under the blessing of his own episcopate ! Like a 
vine running over and mantling the wall, the Church 
has covered the land where she was once so weak and 
dependent, once most bitterly and persistently op- 
posed. " Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto 
thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's 
sake." We have half as many communicants in New 
Haven alone as were then reported in the whole dio- 
cese. We have upwards of thirty Episcopal churches 
and chapels built in stone, besides several tbat stand 
in the lower dignity of brick. The list of the Con- 
necticut clergy has been lengthened to one hundred 
and fifty, and the zeal and benevolence of the laity 
are proofs that this inheritance received from our 
fathers, and which has grown so vastly upon our 
hands, will be adorned with the riches of Christian 
charity, and a fairer beauty, as we send it onward 
unimpaired to future generations. It is something 
worth living for, to be an instrument in the hands of 
God, to aid in building up all this prosperity. It is 
something worth noting, that a prelate whose years 
of office had spanned the space between weakness 
and strength, retained the affections of the diocese 
he had administered and was loved and revered to 
the last, no less than he had been honored at the first. 
The visits of the clergy to him in his retirement 
resembled the course of children and grandchildren 



156 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

returning to an old homestead, where the beloved 
ancestor still lingers to shed the benignity of his pres- 
ence. As the setting sun leaves a trail of light behind, 
upon the sky and earth, so the life and departure of 
such men gild the history of the Church, and leave 
along the track of ages a shining radiance of holiness 
and truth. 

Let us, my Christian hearers, ever love and fol- 
low the examples of all goodness, of "righteous men, 
who have hope in death." Let us keep in view the 
heavenly mansions, and through the operation and in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit, our Enlightener and Com- 
forter, let us contemplate them as our own inherit- 
ance ; and being the people of God, may He guide 
and protect us in our path below, till He finally brings 
us to His kingdom above, where " the former things 
will be passed away." 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

DISCOUESE AT THE REOPENING OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, 
CHESHIRE, NOVEMBER 9, 1864. 

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good 
deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices 
thereof. — Nehemiah xiii. 14. 

The settlement of the Jews in Palestine, after the 
royal edict had been issued permitting them to return 
from Chaldea, was not at once completed. There 
was something of pause and hesitation in abandoning 
the country which had become almost theirs by adop- 
tion ; and when the captives as a body did rise up 
under the influence of piety and patriotism and seek 
again the desolate land of their fathers, here and there 
a man of distinction and devotion lingered behind, 
though his heart went with his returning country- 
men. Of this character was that Nehemiah, who held 
a high and honorable office in the Persian court, even 
the office of a cup-bearer to the king. His position, 
joined to his integrity, prudence, and piety, fitted 
him for soliciting favors from Artaxerxes, and thus 
for accomplishing, in the Providence of God, what no 
private individual could have accomplished. Upon 
receiving by Hanani and certain messengers a pitiful 
and most melancholy account of the state of Jeru- 
salem, with "its walls broken down and the gates 



158 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

thereof burned with fire," he fortified himself through 
humiliation and prayer, and then entreated of the 
king permission to be the instrument of restoring the 
waste places, permission to go unto Judah and build 
up the city of his fathers' sepulchres. 

When, therefore, he left the palace of Shushan, it 
was with authority to rule over Judea and with a 
special proclamation from the king to remove the rub- 
bish and build again the walls and gates of Jerusalem. 
He bore with him also royal letters to all the govern- 
ors beyond the river Euphrates, directing them to 
aid him in the noble and patriotic work on which he 
was sent. It need not be minutely stated how well 
he executed the king's commission, — notwithstand- 
ing vast discouragements, and strong opposition from 
within and from without, — and how vigilant he was 
to promote the welfare of his countrymen in every 
possible way. Because the rich had taken advantage 
of the necessities of the poorer sort, and exacted of 
them heavy usury, he convened a general assembly 
and set forth the nature of their offense, how great a 
breach it was of the Divine law, and how severe and 
oppressive a burden upon their brethren. Hence all 
the lands, vineyards, olive-yards, and houses, which 
had been mortgaged, were released, and the people 
were cheered on to further labors and sacrifices. 

No sooner had he completed the walls, enclosed the 
city, and set up the gates thereof, than he adopted 
suitable measures for the internal regulation and hap- 
piness of Jerusalem. He had a higher concern than 
merely for the civil state. It was his grand object to 
restore and establish, in their perfection and power, 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 159 

the service and worship of Almighty God. For he 
was convinced that the state without the supports of 
religion was like a body without the functions of life 
in healthful order. He resumed the celebration of 
the sacred festivals appointed by law, settled the gene- 
alogies of the nobles and the rulers and the people, 
and among other things bound them to take the word 
of God for their guide and direction, to renounce all 
intimate connections with idolatrous neighbors, to 
guard against every profanation of the Sabbath, and 
to adhere with the greatest care and exactness to all 
the appointments and services of the temple. 

Having thus brought order out of confusion and 
established these wholesome regulations, he dedicated 
to God, with all the solemnities of devotion, the walls 
of the city, and for this issue of his work "the joy of 
Jerusalem was heard even afar off." Then he went 
back to his office and duties at the Persian court, and 
it is on the occasion of his second visit to the land of 
his fathers that we meet with him in the chapter from 
which the text has been drawn. 

It grieved him sorely to find on his return that 
during his absence of many years the very evils and 
abuses which he so carefully guarded against had 
reappeared, and that Eliashib, the chief priest, having 
the oversight of the chamber of the house of God, 
had treacherously provided for a bold and presumptu- 
ous enemy large apartments in the buildings of the 
temple, not only to the utter profanation of the con- 
secrated place, but to the exclusion of the holy ves- 
sels and offerings and to the interruption of the sacred 
solemnities. What could Nehemiah, with a new com- 



160 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

mission as governor of Judea, do but set himself im- 
mediately to oppose and reform these abuses and 
corruptions ? He at once cast out Tobiah from his 
lodgment in the temple, notwithstanding his high 
family alliance, reprehended the rulers for their de- 
sertion of the house of God and restored the Levites 
to their employments and their tithes. While joy and 
satisfaction filled every pious bosom at such a reforma- 
tion, and while his own breast was aglow with delight 
as he surveyed the fruit of his labors, with a com- 
placency which deeds of no other nature could inspire, 
and with eyes uplifted to the Being in whose presence 
we must all appear to give account, he exclaimed, 
"Remember me, my God, concerning this, and 
wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the 
house of my God, and for the offices thereof. " 

This appeal to the Most High God seems, upon a 
slight glance, to be a strange one, and hardly consis- 
tent with a spirit of becoming humility. So frail is 
human nature, and so imperfect are all human per- 
formances, that when a man approaches his Maker, 
instead of asking to be remembered for deeds of 
righteousness, his prayer should rather be that of the 
publican in the parable, " God be merciful to me a 
sinner ! " But if you look a little deeper into the 
character of Nehemiah, you will perceive that he was 
actuated by no unbecoming pride in this matter. He 
spoke not with the arrogant expectations of a Phari- 
see, as if he had any claim upon God for his services, 
or trusted to them for his acceptance and salvation. 
They were done for the religious instruction of the 
people and the advancement of the worship of God in 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 161 

the unhappy land of his fathers, and knowing that 
he would receive no proper recompense, no grateful 
acknowledgment from the men for whose good he 
had toiled and spent largely of his private fortune, 
and knowing, too, that many of them misrepresented 
his motives and his work, he turned with cheerful 
hope to the Supreme Ruler and Judge, and, satisfied 
if he could obtain the divine approbation, he devoutly 
prayed, " Eemember me, my God, concerning this, 
and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done 
for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof." 

He did not forget in all his zealous concern and 
labors that he was a sinner, needing the commisera- 
tion which other men needed, for we find him in this 
same chapter, after having contended with the nobles 
of Judah and testified against them and the merchants 
and tradesmen for profaning the Sabbath, crying out, 
66 Remember me, my God, concerning this also, and 
spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy." 

All benevolent deeds, my brethren, are well pleas- 
ing to God, but those done to promote the interests 
of His Church on earth are peculiarly acceptable in 
His sight, because they carry on His mighty purpose 
of establishing the knowledge of Himself and of His 
salvation. This is the first great lesson to be ex- 
tracted from the text. And the second is, that " good 
deeds done for the house of our God and for the offi- 
ces thereof," must be peculiarly acceptable to Him, 
because they not only contribute to the security of 
society and the happiness of our race, but affect the 
welfare of unborn generations. 

I ask you to follow me in my thoughts, while I pro- 
li 



162 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ceed to unfold these lessons and apply them to the 
circumstances of the present occasion. 

First, good deeds done to promote the interests of 
His Church on earth, are peculiarly acceptable to God, 
because they help to carry on His mighty purpose 
of establishing the knowledge of Himself and of His 
salvation. 

In the sixty-third psalm, composed while David 
was in the wilderness, and therefore far away from 
the public ordinances of religion, it is said, " My soul 
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry 
and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power 
and thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary." 
A momentous principle is involved in this assertion. 
Under the Mosaic economy every divine dealing was 
closely connected with the temple; there were the 
manifestations of Jehovah, the signs and notices of 
mercies with which future days were charged. There 
and there only could God be solemnly worshiped ; 
there and there only might expiatory sacrifices be 
offered and intimations of the Divine will sought and 
obtained. Hence, under that dispensation, God owned 
and loved good deeds done for His house as if done 
for Himself. He honored the appropriation by men 
of a portion of their wealth to preserve a reverent 
remembrance of His name, and "make His praise 
glorious," for He knew that without His temple He 
must be forgotten — that without an altar on which 
the victim could be laid there would be no sacrifice. 
He blessed and rewarded Solomon for the house which 
he had built, and when it was dedicated to His service, 
He filled it with His sublime presence in the glorious 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 163 

cloud and in His fixed and terrible majesty vouchsafed 
to dwell there in the Sanctuary upon the mercy-seat 
between the Cherubim. 

There is no Shechinah now, no visible manifesta- 
tion of the Divine presence as in the temple at Jeru- 
salem, but every Christian edifice raised to the glory 
of God, every effort to establish and extend the 
Church and " the offices thereof," is a cooperation 
with the Almighty in His plan of recovering the 
human race from death and restoring to them right- 
eousness and eternal life. It is the happiest applica- 
tion of art to furnish suitable temples for the worship 
of God. They beautify and adorn the regions where 
they stand, and present the open gates through which 
men may enter and find fresh pastures for the soul. 
Here, in the sanctuary, they may learn the tidings of 
forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ, who 
offered Himself upon the cross for our redemption. 
Here they may come and be washed in the laver of 
regeneration — be baptized in the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost. Here they are invited to 
" draw near with faith, and take the holy Sacrament 
to their comfort," " not trusting in their own right- 
eousness, but in the manifold and great mercies of 
God." The birth, the bridal, and the burial have each 
a place in the parish register, and all orders and 
degrees of men share alike in the pleasures and 
advantages of access to the house of God. 

It must never be forgotten that He in His sove- 
reignty, His condescension, and His benevolence, has 
determined that His own kingdom, the kingdom of 
Christ, shall be accomplished by the aid of those who 



164 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

gratefully accept the overtures of redemption. He 
could very easily do without us. He could convert 
the world without churches, without preachers, with- 
out Bibles, without the recurrence of ordinances and 
sacred days; but God has chosen, — and there is the 
evidence of sovereignty and omnipotence, as well as 
of condescension, and privilege, and kindness towards 
us in the very choice, — God has chosen to effect and 
fulfill His purposes by the instrumentality of His 
Church and its members. As the alms-deeds of Cor- 
nelius went up for a memorial before Him, so will 
yours be remembered. u Herein is my Father glori- 
fied," said the Saviour to His disciples, " that ye bear 
much fruit;" and whatever the shape in which this 
fruit appears, whether in removing parish debts, in 
building or enlarging the house of God and providing 
44 for the offices thereof; " whether in sustaining the 
ministry, in helping the w T eak, in comforting the sick 
and relieving the needy, in warning the wicked, in 
bringing back the wandering to the right path, in 
guiding and encouraging the young to virtue, in the 
culture of personal piety and of a spirit of depend- 
ence upon Him from whom all things come, and of 
whose own we give back if we give at all, — what- 
ever the shape in which you bring forth fruit to the 
glory of God, — it will be " laying up in store for 
yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, 
that ye may lay hold on eternal life." 

But I need not dwell upon this head. I have a 
right to take for granted, what all your humane and 
Christian instincts incessantly urge upon you, that 
we are under obligations, in one way and another, 



GOOD DEEDS FOB, THE HOUSE OF GOD. 165 

to do good and to labor diligently in behalf of souls 
for which Christ died. 

About a century ago a little band of resolute 
Churchmen, who had attended at Wallingford and 
shared those bitter persecutions which were the un- 
happy fault of the times, erected on this spot, "for their 
greater convenience in the winter season," an edifice 
in which to worship God after the manner of their 
fathers and in accordance with the Liturgy of the 
Church of England. The edifice, like the flock, was 
small, and late in the year 1760 it was opened w T ith 
religious services and a dedicatory sermon by the 
Rev. James Scovill, at that time the Missionary of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts, stationed at Waterbury. A Clerk, Church- 
wardens, and Vestrymen were chosen, and the people 
thereafter met together on Sundays to hear prayers 
and sermons, expecting ere long to be under the 
ministrations of Mr. Samuel Andrews, a graduate of 
Yale College and already on the eve of proceeding to 
England for Holy Orders. Time went on, and the 
priest whom their hearts desired came among them, 
and the flock grew. Soon the little edifice was dis- 
placed by another of larger dimensions, and then, 
again, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, when 
the troubles of the revolution had been passed and 
the first Bishop of Connecticut had succeeded in 
planting here his Diocesan School, a porch and a 
steeple were added. These "good deeds done for 
the house of God and for the offices thereof, " in a 
day of small things, will not be wiped out from the 
Divine remembrance, nor should they be wiped out 
from yours. 



166 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

We come now to the second great lesson to be 
extracted from the text, that such good deeds must 
be acceptable to God, since they contribute to the 
security of society and the happiness of our race, and 
affect the welfare of unborn generations. 

Whatever makes a man better in this life makes him 
happier. With passions unrestrained, with a sinful 
nature left to itself, there would be no elevation given 
to his character, and consequently he would have lit- 
tle respect for the rights and feelings of others. As 
an individual in a fallen state, what does he not want? 
He wants instruction for his mind, guidance for his 
affections, restraint for his vices, animation for his 
virtues, consolation for his sorrows, a sacrifice for 
his sins, a foundation for his hopes, and a staff upon 
which his spirit can lean when he enters the dark 
"valley of the shadow of death." And what shall 
supply all these wants but the religion of Christ, and 
how shall this religion be presented so well and so 
universally to the acceptance of men, as in the sanc- 
tuary, where God is pleased still as of old to make 
His way known ? In every view which we take of 
the individual and of society, the comforts and instruc- 
tions of the Gospel are the best benefits to be pro- 
vided for them, and the best means of preserving and 
perpetuating the foundations of righteousness. You 
contribute, therefore, to the happiness and purity and 
perfection of the social relations when you perform 
" good deeds for the house of God and for the offices 
thereof." I will not picture what the land would be- 
come if all the Christian temples where the voice of 
public prayer is now heard were leveled with the 



i 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 167 

dust. The process by which communities are made 
happy is precisely that by which the souls of indi- 
viduals are saved. We all know how greatly we are 
indebted to the benign influences of the Gospel for 
the wholesome laws under which we live. The build- 
ings which the children of God rear to His name, 
that in them they may worship Him and learn to do 
their duty and to "love one another/' fitly symbolize 
a spirit of reverence for good order and sound moral- 
ity. They represent a people who do not forget that 
" in the way of righteousness is life ; and in the path- 
way thereof there is no death." The towers and 
spires of such temples shoot upward to the skies and 
touch the clouds, as if to break and render powerless 
the thunderbolts of divine vengeance, just ready to 
fall on deserving heads. 

Glory be to God, therefore, when He puts it into 
the hearts of His accountable creatures to build, 
enlarge, or beautify the house of prayer. It is an 
expression of sublime gratitude for blessings and mer- 
cies received. It is a recognition of the important 
fact that righteous men in the midst of a city are its 
safety. We should never, my brethren, in our "good 
deeds," be reluctant to give to the Lord of the best 
we possess. We should never richly garnish our own 
mansions, and leave His in mean attire. It was a 
grief to David that, while he himself " dwelt in an 
house of cedar, the ark of God was dwelling within 
curtains." The decayed church which served well 
enough the purpose of generations in an earlier stage 
of society needs to have its place occupied by another 
in " meet accord " with the wealth and culture and 
improved artistic taste of these times. 



168 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

More than twenty-five years have passed away 
since a young deacon of our communion, at the desire 
of the members of this parish, entered the village, 
and, after the example of Paul, preached, " ready to 
depart on the morrow." What did he find here in the 
line of his office to attract him to a locality beautiful 
by nature, with a picturesque landscape stretching 
between the Blue Hills on one side and " the moun- 
tain wooded to the peak " on the other ? He found 
indeed eager and earnest souls that welcomed him 
for the truth's sake ; but the church, associated with 
the struggles of the past and the memories of good 
men, was tottering into decay. It towered up and 
looked in the distance, as you approached it from the 
north, like a great cathedral; but the enchantment di- 
minished as you drew near, and beheld the rusty clap- 
boards, the broken panes, and, projected from the side 
windows, the ugly stove-pipes with branching elbows. 
Within, the appearance and the effect were more 
grateful, and the pious odor of the old sanctuary was 
refreshing in spite of its discomforts ; but when the 
roughest blasts of winter beat against it a creaking 
went through all the timbers, disconcerting the minis- 
ter, and now and then sending forth a worshiper irrev- 
erently, as if he would escape with his life before the 
whole had fallen and become one mass of ruins. The 
doors of the venerable institution which the Diocese 
had planted here, and which had been so prosperous in 
other days, were shut, as they had been for some time, 
and the Academy green was still as midnight. I see 
this picture before me now, as I saw the reality then, 
and I discern the change also, which, with the revival 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 169 

and prosperity of the school, spread out through the 
parish and resulted in the speedy erection of a new, 
more commodious and more substantial house of 
worship. It arose on the same hallowed site selected 
by your fathers for the earliest sanctuary, and it is 
one of the few rural churches in Connecticut which 
after the lapse of a century still preserves in its sur- 
roundings the features of an English model, with the 
burial ground attached. It would seem as if each 
one of those sagacious and godly men, who thus 
planned for the future, had it in his mind to say : — 

u I would sleep where the church bells aye ring out; 
I would rise by the house of prayer, 
And feel me a moment at home on earth, 
For the Christian's home is there." 

After many years of service in another field of 
labor we come back to the scene of our youthful min- 
istry to-day, to witness extensive changes and im- 
provements, and to join in congratulations at your 
" good deeds done for the house of our God and for 
the offices thereof." The added chancel with its com- 
plete furniture and its chaste window, 1 making " the 
light and glory more reverend grow," the enlarged 
space, the enriched ceiling, and all these inner adorn- 
ments and conveniences — what are they but proofs of 
a willingness to honor God and render more becoming 
and attractive the place were His people assemble to 
worship and praise His glorious name ? The spirit of 
improvement is beginning to be visible also outside in 
the churchyard,— for some one has walked among the 

1 The window was a memorial gift of a native of Cheshire, — George 
A. Jarvis, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., — and the Communion Table was 
presented by a few friends of the parish in New Haven. 



170 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

leaning headstones and the graves of the departed 
with more than pensive contemplation, giving form 
and order, as far as they well can be given, to a spot 
which has too long resembled in many of its aspects 
" the field of the slothful and the vineyard of the man 
void of understanding." 1 Then, moreover, that time- 
honored seat of learning — the Diocesan School — 
under the management of its energetic principal has 
attained to a measure of prosperity so deservedly 
great, that the pupils with their teachers are in them- 
selves at this very moment a large congregation. 

These various changes, these tokens of life and im- 
provement, are truly gratifying to the Christian heart, 
and we rejoice especially that you of the parish in 
caring for your own comfort, the good of the com- 
munity and the salvation of souls, are teaching by 
your example another generation to be mindful of 
their duties and responsibilities. You thus hand 
on the inheritance which you received from your 
fathers, not only unimpaired, but improved. May it 
be preserved and improved by your children. You 
will leave them a better legacy than treasures of gold, 
if you can leave in their hearts a burning love of 
" good deeds for the house of our God and for the 
offices thereof." 

In the life of George Herbert it is mentioned that 
when he rebuilt, at his own charge, the greatest part 
of the parsonage at Bemerton, he caused to be en- 
graved upon the mantel of the chimney in the hall, 

1 This improvement was largely due to the exertions of one who had 
a family interest in the ground, William R. Hitchcock, Esq., of Water- 
bury. 



GOOD DEEDS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. 171 
lines : — 



for the benefit of his successor, these significant 



" If thou chance for to find 
A new house to thy mind, 

And built without thy cost, 
Be good to the poor, 
As God gives thee store, 

And then my labor 's not lost." 

I have often thought that some such inscription 
might well be put up in the vestibule of the neat 
rural church, not so much as an exhortation to char- 
ity, as a warning to the future pastor and his people 
to maintain with proper watchfulness and care all 
the order and neatness and beauty marked out and 
provided for them by a former generation. While 
you teach your children, therefore, to reverence the 
sanctuary, and to "remember and keep holy the 
Sabbath day " within its consecrated walls, let them 
understand, at the same time, that they are coming 
into an inheritance which must be cared for, and not 
left like the sluggard's field, or as Jerusalem was left 
for many years after the temple had been rebuilt, 
with much rubbish scattered about, with " the place 
of the fathers' sepulchres lying waste, and the gates 
of the city consumed with fire." It is but a little 
time that you can linger here and hold on to parish 
responsibilities. 

" The woods decay and fall; 
The vapors weep their burthen to the ground ; " 

and so one after another droops and disappears from 
the pastor's flock, and leaves the child to occupy his 
place and represent him in the house of God. I look 
in vain for the faces of many who were wont to be 



172 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

with you in your worshiping assemblies before our 
connection was severed, and my ministrations among 
you were closed. ye perishing creatures, ye chil- 
dren of the dust, dream of anything rather than of 
prolonged continuance upon earth ! Be thankful that 
God in His Providence has brought you to this hour, 
and given you the mind and the means to adore Him 
for his love, and honor Him with " good deeds done 
for His house and for the offices thereof." 

It may not be my privilege to speak again to you 
all in this place, and, therefore, before I close let me 
reproduce the truth, incidentally mentioned in a 
former part of the discourse, that while, like Nehe- 
miah, you pray to be remembered concerning your 
beneficent works, never refer to them in a self-right- 
eous spirit, or trust to them for final acceptance and 
salvation. These cannot atone for sin. You must 
turn to Calvary, if you would find what obedience 
unto the death of the cross has wrought for your 
souls. You must look as sinners to the great Medi- 
ator between God and man, — the man Christ Jesus, 
— and then when you lie down in peace to die, life 
will mirror back the joy and satisfaction of its Chris- 
tian deeds. The ear of faith will catch the angelic 
song repeated through the rounding ages of eternity, 
« "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," and that tri- 
umphant scene will dawn on your vision, when 
" every creature which is in heaven and on the earth 
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
all that are in them," shall unite in the glad ascrip- 
tion, " saying, Blessing and honor and glory and 
power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb forever and ever." 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUN- 
TAINS. 

SERMON AT THE OPENING OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEWTOWN, 
CONNECTICUT, FEBRUARY 3, 1870. 

His foundation is in the holy mountains : the Lord loveth the gates of 
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. — Psalm lxxxvii. 1, 2. 

The abrupt beginning of this Psalm may have led 
to a supposition among commentators that the first 
verse is properly a part of the title, and that the read- 
ing should be : " For the sons of Korah, a Psalm, a 
song when he laid the foundation on the holy moun- 
tains." But it is quite as rational to account for the 
abruptness on the supposition that it is the fragment 
only of a larger Psalm, and if nothing in it indicates 
the author, or the precise occasion of its composition, 
we can have no doubt about the general design and 
application. It celebrates the beauty and stability of 
Jerusalem, on whose holy mountains the buildings of 
God were raised, and by giving it the spiritual inter- 
pretation of which it is capable it becomes a delight- 
ful prophecy of the glory of the church in the acces- 
sion of the Gentiles. 

The translation of the Prayer Book changes the 
pronoun in the first verse of the text, and makes it 
read : " Her foundation is upon the holy hills ; " but 
the application is still the same — even to Jerusalem 



174 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and the Church, whose sacred solemnities centred 
within u the crates of Zion." We know that " the dwel- 
lings of Jacob " were the object of God's affection and 
favor, and that He viewed them with an eve of inter- 
est and concern, which was never turned upon the 
cities of the Amorites and the Canaanites. The noted 
enchanter, Balaam, mysteriously moved by the Divine 
Spirit, confessed that it was a lovely sight to behold 
Israel, before the wilderness had been passed and pos- 
session of the promised inheritance gained, abiding in 
his goodly tents. Though the king of Moab blindly 
urged him by the fairest human encouragements 
to curse the Hebrews, yet amidst his unrestrained 
delight in surveying their wide-spread encampment, 
and in the very highest style and strain of lofty 
inspiration, he exclaimed, "How goodly are thy tents, 
Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel ! ' : 

But far lovelier than these, in the eyes both of the 
Israelite and his God, were " the gates of Zion." 
They inclosed the seat of solemnities and privileges 
not to be enjoyed in private dwellings and shifting 
tabernacles. Jehovah had said concerning Jerusalem, 
and in allusion to the Ions; toils and wanderings of His 
people, "This shall be my rest forever; here will I 
dw T ell, for I have a delight therein." The extraordi- 
nary manifestations of Himself in the sanctuary are 
peculiar to the sacredness of "the holy hills." The 
symbols of His power and glory, once dwelling " within 
curtains," found here a final abiding place, and the 
temple became the very presence chamber of the 
Almighty, the court of holiness, where He specially 
vouchsafed to receive the homage and answer the 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 175 

entreaties of His people. There was no drawing-room 
in all the dwellings of Jacob that had such honor, 
or such privileges. There was no spot in Canaan, 
though the tabernacle rested for a season in other 
parts of the land, that had such associations and digni- 
ties and prerogatives as the temple upon Mount Sion, 
the place of God's fixed residence which He had 
desired for a habitation. There He " promised His 
blessings and life forevermore." The complicated sys- 
tem which He arranged with impressive rites and 
majestic ceremonies, served not only to restrain His 
chosen people from heathen idolatry, but to foreshow 
in minute particulars the simple facts of a religion 
whose temple was to embrace the whole world, and 
whose shrine was to be every human heart. 

I do not suppose that a congregation like this will 
need to be told that the Christian Church is identical 
in its objects with the Jewish, that the one is the con- 
tinuation of the other, and that so the predictions 
of the ancient prophets have been fulfilled. The 
sacrifices ordained under the law, the observances 
commanded, and the hope and promise of a Messiah 
carried on through age after age of almost universal 
apostasy were only parts of an introductory dispensa- 
tion. That dispensation, with all its types and shad- 
ows, closed when the substance came, and the narrow 
household of faith, of which Jerusalem was but the 
centre, then expanded into a spiritual kingdom with 
privileges not confined to a single mountain, nor shut 
up within the gates of a single city. It may well be 
believed that the pious Jew regarded the temple with 
his best affections, because it was towards the temple, 



176 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

if he chanced to be a wanderer in a foreign land, that 
he was bidden to turn, whensoever he sought in 
prayer the God of his fathers, as though to gain the 
ear of Jehovah he must imagine himself to be kneel- 
ing within its consecrated walls. 

But, brethren, we Christians stand in the portals of 
an edifice of grander proportions, of deeper mystery, 
and more solemn importance. The one Catholic and 
Apostolic Church, which holds us in its embrace, has 
no central seat on earth. The blessings that issued 
of old from Zion flow forevermore in the channels of 
redemption, and a worship of spirit and of truth, a 
service of perfect freedom, has succeeded to one of 
ceremonial observance, — the liberty of the Gospel 
to the voke of the Law. 

The text, with these brief references to the devel- 
opment of sacred history, is apposite to the occasion. 
On this spot, the home of so many remembrances, 
we gather to-day a goodly company composed of 
bishop, priests, and people, to open w T ith becoming 
services this beautiful and durable structure, whose 
" foundation is upon the holy hills," and where 
henceforth are to be heard only songs of Christian 
praise, and the voice of Christian instruction, piety, 
and prayer. It is a blessed and comfortable thought 
that Christ is " Head over all things to His church, 
which is His body," ruling by His almighty power 
in heaven above and on the earth beneath, and order- 
ing all things, if its members have but faith in Him, 
for its advancement and the increase of its glory. 
The building of a new house of worship by an old 
parish is often encompassed by peculiar difficulties, 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 177 

and tasks to the uttermost the faith and patience of 
the pastor and his flock. The strange objections some- 
times raised to the enterprise ; the variety of opin- 
ions about the site; the form or the material of the 
proposed edifice ; the too common habit of those who 
have the silver and the gold to forget that these things 
come of the Lord, and that of His own they give back 
to Him, if they do give ; the jealousies of individuals ; 
the influence of families; the venerable associations of 
the past ; and the attachment which yet lingers with 
many to the work of their forefathers, — all these con- 
spire to embarrass and impede the project of erect- 
ing a new house of public worship. But when the 
whole has been completed, and all have come together, 
rector, vestry, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons 
and daughters, to offer with one heart to the Lord the 
fruit of their prayers and watchings and self-denials, 
who can withhold his congratulations, or who can 
doubt that the Lord 

" Looking propitious from His throne 
Will take the temple for His own " ? 

And, if it be His own He will love it above the com- 
mon halls and dwellings of men. Constant usage, 
since the Church emerged from the shades of perse- 
cution, has continued that which originated under the 
legal dispensation, and our reason and natural sense of 
propriety suggest that the places where the name of 
God is publicly invoked, His grace implored, and His 
ordinances celebrated, should have a sacredness, a sepa- 
ration from all unhallowed, worldly, and common uses. 
The temple which Solomon built passed from his 
possession and ownership when the king upon his 

12 



178 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

knees offered a prayer of dedication, and showed that 
the Spirit which filled the house filled also the heart 
of him who thus devoted it to the Most High. Truth 
and duty will be forgotten where there are no fit 
memorials of the Divine Excellence, and no sensible 
tokens of a living Christian faith. The appropriation, 
therefore, by men of a portion of their treasures to 
erect a house to the service of the Lord speaks a reve- 
rent remembrance of His name, and a laudable desire 
to " make His praise glorious/' The house as to style 
and beauty and finish and completeness should be in 
conformity w T ith the wealth and culture and refine- 
ment of the people. Among the log huts of the wil- 
derness a rude and unpretentious edifice will meet the 
wants and desires of scattered Christian families, and 
God will love it for the spirit of piety and self-sacrifice 
that secures its erection. I go back almost a century 
and a half, and imagine myself to be standing near this 
spot, and beside a little group of earnest, intelligent 
and devoted churchmen. The central figure in the 
group is John Beach, the first and only missionary 
located here of the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in Foreign Parts — a clergyman with a 
pure conscience, a large heart and a resolute spirit. 
He is watching intently the men, while they raise 
to their places the rough-hewn timbers of a build- 
ing some twenty-four feet square, and then hastily 
throw the roof boards over the frame, in this manner 
preparing it for the band of zealous worshipers who 
purpose to assemble the next day under its imperfect 
protection. The church thus built, and bare of all 
architectural ornament and convenience, was, to the 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 179 

people of that time, like consecrated Bethel to the 
wandering Jacob, " none other but the house of God 
and the gate of heaven." It was the best which their 
poverty and limited numbers would permit them to 
provide, and they came to it habitually for prayer and 
praise, for communion with the Triune God, for in- 
struction in the word of truth, and for the spiritual 
blessings which attend the Holy Sacraments. 

Less than fifteen years go by, and I stand again 
amidst a larger group, bent on the work of construct- 
ing another and a larger church, to take the place of 
the first. This house was more glorious than the 
former, chiefly in having broader courts for the people, 
and it survived the shock of the Revolution, and car- 
ried over its history to the spacious and somewhat 
imposing edifice, to which, with all its associations, 
you have just bidden a final adieu. 

God testified his love for these rude sanctuaries — 
rude, I mean, compared with the present advanced 
style of ecclesiastical architecture — by blessing the 
congregations gathered within them, and by multi- 
plying the posterity of His servants. It is a good 
work that you have now completed, to build the 
fourth church of your parish in a fashion of richness 
and ornamentation corresponding to the improved 
taste of the dav, and better still that it has been built 
for perpetuity, and with the durable granite quarried 
and brought from your own hills. 1 The church is one 
which adorns the beautiful region in which it stands, 

1 The church is in the Gothic style of architecture with clere-story 
and slated roofs. It is 108 feet long by 52 wide, and has a recessed 
chancel and an imposing tower. It cost $50,000. 



180 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and henceforth you may come to it and feel, in all 
your religious reverence and homage, as the Psalm- 
ist felt when he exclaimed, " Thy way, God, is in 
the sanctuary ; who is so great a God as our God ? " 

I will not dwell on the value to a community of 
the public ordinances of religion. We all know that 
it is by and through these that God generally turns 
men to Himself, and afterwards strengthens them to 
persevere in the Christian course. It is the office of 
the ministry to " teach and premonish " the people, 
and to lead their devotions, and if these, with other 
duties, are to be always "printed in our remem- 
brance," if. as much as lieth in us, we are to apply 
ourselves wholly to this office, "and draw all our 
cares and studies this way," surely it is meet that we 
have hearers who will appreciate our services, and 
love and honor us for the Master's sake. St. Paul, in 
his Epistle to the Galatians, has supposed the case of 
an angel from heaven coming to discharge the office 
of a preacher to men, but it is in connection with 
the vain attempt to proclaim another Gospel than 
that which he had preached unto them, that the sup- 
position is made. Angels watch for the repentance 
of sinners, and there is joy among them when one 
" repenteth ; " but the Lord did not choose angels, with 
their mysterious and unearthly forms, to be His in- 
struments in bringing many sons to glory. He chose 
men, mortals who have capacity for deep sympathy 
with those to whom they speak the word of life, and 
while we claim no authority whatsoever for the man, 
we do magnify our office, and claim the very highest 
authority for the message and the messenger. 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 181 

Hence it is, my brethren, that the church throws 
open her doors and invites you to come where prayer 
is wont to be made, where the Gospel is preached, 
and where the Sacraments are duly administered. Is 
it too much to believe that the Lord, for these high 
honors to His name, will love His house more than 
all private dwellings ? And is it too much to expect 
that the people will seek here the enlargements 
and outflowings of the Spirit? The males of Israel 
w T ere required three times a year to go up to Jeru- 
salem to worship and offer their oblations in the 
temple. The law exacted this duty from all, even 
from those who dwelt in the remotest parts of Pales- 
tine. " Whether or no they had coaches," says Rob- 
ert South, " to the temple they must go ; nor could 
it excuse them to plead God's omniscience, that He 
could equally see and hear them in any place, nor 
yet their own good will and intentions, as if the 
readiness of their mind to go might, forsooth, warrant 
their bodies to stay at home." * 

We do not mean to intimate, in these thoughts, 
that no acceptable worship may be offered elsewhere. 
St. Paul, at a period of persecution, when the disci- 
ples, were not allowed to erect edifices for their com- 
mon devotion, saluted the church in Philemon's house. 
The Church began with the family, and all Chris- 
tian families that set up an altar around which the 
members statedly gather, may claim the promise, 
since it is without reservation : " Ask, and it shall be 
given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock and it shall 
be opened unto you : for every one that asketh 

1 Sermons, vol. i. p. 144. 



182 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that 
knocketh it shall be opened." The child taught by 
maternal piety to kneel at the bedside and lisp, " Our 
Father who art in Heaven" the youth of either sex 
asking in private for guidance and spiritual strength to 
go through the trials and temptations which beset the 
Christian path; the man of business imploring, in the 
secrecy of his chamber, support for the stern realities 
of life ; the Christian in sickness, sorrow, and bereave- 
ment pleading for divine consolations; the veteran 
believer, with gray hair and feeble limbs, approaching 
daily nearer to the grave, yet praying for continual 
comforts, and that he may fear no evil when he comes 
to enter the shadowy valley — all these are admitted 
with the fullest and freest welcome into the presence 
of God, who has promised to hear our petitions and 
answer them for the sake of his own dear Son. 

But public worship has elements of public praise. 
It is combined with public instruction, and those who 
pray in private and in their families are generally the 
best support of the clergy and the most regular in at- 
tendance upon their ministrations. David, separated 
from the sanctuary by civil occurrences, could find in 
nothing, certainly not in the quiet breathings of pri- 
vate devotion, that pleasure w T hich he had tasted in 
the house of God. In view of his banishment, and 
remembering what he had left behind, he could not 
repress the exclamation, " how amiable are thy 
dwellings, thou Lord of Hosts ! My soul hath a desire 
and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord; my 
heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God." 

Many a one in later days, and in this land, has had 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 183 

the like longings and desires, but they were for the 
full offices of the church of their ancestors, for a valid 
ministry, for the sacraments ordained of Christ, and 
for communion with the Father of spirits, in that 
beauty of holiness furnished by a Liturgy, " whose 
clothing is of wrought gold." The depth of the trials 
of the early churchmen of Connecticut cannot be 
measured. We can hardly persuade ourselves that 
the goodly inheritance into which we have come is 
the fruit of seed sown by the righteous in a day when 
there were visible foemen in the field. Compared 
with the past, ours is a time of peaceful enjoyment ; 
and the impulse of affection, and admiration for our 
high and precious privileges may lead us to say indi- 
vidually as one of our own poets has said : — 

" I love the Church — the holy Church, 
That o'er our life presides — 
The birth, the bridal, and the grave, 
And many an hour besides ! " 1 

This region has been the scene of sharp religious 
controversy. It was the battle-ground for great prin- 
ciples from the beginning of 1732 to the close of the 
Revolutionary War. When John Beach, who for 
eight years had been the "popular pastor" of the 
Congregational Society in Newtown, relinquished his 
situation, declared for Episcopacy and crossed the 
Atlantic to receive Holy Orders in the Church of 
England, he could not have anticipated the bitterness 
and violence which were to spring up among his 
former friends and neighbors in consequence of his 
defection from their ranks. No sooner had he re- 

1 Coxe's Christian Ballads. 



184 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

turned to minister here, under the auspices of the 
venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
than all sorts of opposition were raised to his work. 
He had been charged to extend his Christian offi- 
ces to a tribe of Indians a few miles distant, but they 
were " antidoted," to quote his own words, "against 
the Church," and treated him with indignity, under 
the extraordinary pretense that he was about to 
deprive them of their lands and draw from them con- 
tributions for his support. The sachem of the tribe 
threatened to " shoot a bullet through his heart if he 
came among them," ! but the path of duty was clearly 
before him, and he pursued it with a cheerful and 
resolute spirit, " conciliating many of the Indians, and 
gathering around him large congregations of his coun- 
trymen." Pamphlets assailing the Church, misrepre- 
senting her principles and ridiculing her practices 
and her members, were printed and freely circu- 
lated among all classes of people in quarters where 
Episcopacy was taking root, so that Johnson and 
Beach were compelled to step forth into the field of 
controversy and meet, with pertinent arguments, such 
adversaries as Dickinson of New Jersey, Foxcroft of 
Boston, and John Graham of Woodbury, in this 
State. 

It would be impossible for me on the present occa- 
sion to describe the spirit and chief results of the 
discussions of that time, — this I have done in another 
way, 2 — but so many historic associations crowd 
around me, as I hold my pen to write this sermon, 

1 Hawkins's Missions of the Church of England, p. 203. 

2 History of Episcopal Church in Connecticut, 2 vols. 8vo. 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 185 

that I cannot resist the temptation to make a few 
additional allusions to the work and character of the 
first minister of your parish. 

When Jonathan Dickinson published, in 1736, a dis- 
course entitled, " The Vanity of Human Institutions 
in the Worship of God," and not only misunderstood 
or purposely misrepresented the Liturgy, but fixed 
the sin of schism, the guilt of rending the body of 
Christ, upon all who, from any motive, were led to 
conform to the Church of England, he found in John 
Beach an advocate who comprehended the case, — one 
who, in vindicating the doctrine and worship which 
he preferred, stood by the truth and the treasures 
of the past, and refused to be " branded for an anti- 
christ, or a heretic and apostate," because he had fol- 
lowed the convictions of his conscience, and come out 
of Independency. Like Johnson, his cherished friend 
and trusty counselor, the circuit of his ministrations 
was at first large, for though Newtown and Kedding 
were the two centres of his work, where he officiated 
statedly on Sundays, yet he visited the surrounding 
towns, and traveled great distances to reach church- 
men and religious inquirers, bury the dead, administer 
the Sacraments, and be a guide in organizing new 
missions, and providing for them schoolmasters and 
catechists. All through the wild excitement and dis- 
orders consequent upon the itinerancy and preaching 
of Whitefield, he stood like a faithful sentinel at his 
post, and sounded the note of danger. 

I am sure that you, in common with the whole 
Church in Connecticut, owe him a vast debt of grati- 
tude for his service, and especially for presenting, at 



186 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

that troubled period, the discriminating marks be- 
tween true and false religion, and thereby winning 
over to our communion many who had else been lost 
in the mazes of infidelity or in the depths of despair. 

He allowed no public assault upon our doctrine, 
discipline, and worship, to go unnoticed, and scarcely 
had the "First Address to the Members of the Episco- 
palian Separation in New England, " by Mr. Noah 
Hobart, come from the press before he was ready with 
a clear and dispassionate reply. Another long con- 
troversy then followed, into which Caner and Johnson 
and Wetmore were drawn, but, like the previous ones, 
it proved an indirect means of furthering the progress 
of Episcopacy in Connecticut. It is quite evident 
that these men acted in this matter in self-defense. 
"Though my health," said Beach, in a communication 
to the Society, just after the passage of the Stamp Act, 
" is small and my abilities less, and though I make it 
a rule never to enter into any dispute with the Inde- 
pendent ministers, unless they begin ; yet now they 
have made the assault, and advanced such monstrous 
errors as do subvert the Gospel, I think myself obliged, 
by my ordination vow, to guard my people, as well as 
I can, ... in which work, hitherto, I hope I have 
had some success.' ' 

That "success," my brethren, is written all over 
your ante-Revolutionary history. The failure of the 
frequent and urgent appeals to the authorities at 
home to provide the American colonies with a resi- 
dent bishop, did not prevent the growth of the 
Church, and in Newtown, if a line had been drawn in 
1774, and all the Episcopalians placed on one side of 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 187 

it, and all the non-Episcopalians on the other, the two 
divisions would have been evenly numbered, precisely 
1,084 in either case. How was so much prosperity 
under God secured, an increase of twenty fold ? I 
answer, by the unremitting labors, the sound and 
patient teaching, the inflexible integrity, and the 
"sober, righteous, and godly life" of the first minister 
of this parish. His bodily infirmities hardly allowed 
him a day of ease or respite from pain, though in 
forty years he lost only two Sundays by actual sick- 
ness, and in all these years he obeyed every sum- 
mons of duty, and rode through storms and snow- 
drifts, and over swollen and rushing streams to meet 
his people at the appointed time and place of worship. 
The good effect of this example upon them was such 
that they could not for very shame, as he himself 
says, in one of his letters to the Society, make " the 
badness of the weather" an excuse for their own 
absence. 

But his labors in the ministry, already extended to 
more than half a century, were now drawing to a 
close. The old polemic and doctrinal controversies 
were lost sight of in the great political struggle which 
had commenced, and which was to involve the church 
in immediate peril. Johnson, whose intimate ac- 
quaintance he enjoyed for more than fifty-five years, 
and of whom, " without an hyperbole," he could say, 
" I know not that ever I conversed with him without 
finding myself afterward the better for it," had gone 
to his rest ; and here, remote from the din and battles 
of the Revolution, he pursued his holy vocation, and 
alone of all our clergy in Connecticut, opened his 



188 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

church on Sundays and the greater holy days, and, in 
spite of the threats of enemies, used without abridg- 
ment the Liturgy of the Church of England. He was 
too good and venerable a man to be silenced because 
he prayed for the king and royal family, 1 and he had 
a body of conscientious people at his back, who sym- 
pathized with his religious views, and felt that it was 
of quite as much importance to remember the Church, 
and what had been done for their souls, as to " com- 
ply with the doings of Congress." And so he went 
on to the end, departing just as the struggle was over, 
and never hearing the notes of joy that rang through- 
out the land upon the acknowledgment of American 
Independence. 

Many years ago, in a spirit of youthful veneration 
for the sainted dead, I visited yonder cemetery, and 
as I stood by his grave and read underneath the brief 

1 Bishop Williams, at the request of the author, has written out the 
following anecdote, which he related to the clergy assembled in Dr. 
Marble's study, after the service : — 

"In the early summer of 1848, I was traveling with the Rev. Dr. 
Rankine, who was at that time studying with me, in what we then called 
Northern New York. Returning from Lake George, we passed down 
the banks of the Hudson River, to visit the scenes of Burgoyne's sur- 
render in 1777. Stopping for the night at an inn in the neighborhood of 
Schuylerville, perhaps in the place itself, I met an aged man, the father, 
I think, of the innkeeper, who told me that he was born and passed his 
early life in Newtown, Connecticut. 

" He also told me that he perfectly remembered being in the church 
at Newtown, when some soldiers entered, service being then in progress, 
and threatened to shoot the officiating minister, the Rev. John Beach, if 
he read the prayer for the king and the royal family. Mr. Beach, he 
said, went on as usual, with no change, or even tremor, in his voice, and 
read the obnoxious prayers. My informant added that he believed (his 
recollection on this point was not quite so positive) that the soldiers, 
struck with the quiet courage of Mr. Beach, stacked their muskets and 
remained through the service. ' ' 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 189 

inscription on his monument, this simple line, "Reader, 
let this tablet abide," the thought involuntarily came 
to my lips, "Let his work abide, though the tablet 
decay." Let these hills and valleys be fragrant with 
the memory of his piety and zeal, and let his succes- 
sors, priests and people in this parish, never fail to 
support and carryforward the Church, "asking for 
the old paths, where is the good way, and walking 
therein." He said, in his funeral sermon upon Dr. 
Johnson, "we must not imagine, when we have buried 
the bodies of our friends out of our sight, that then 
we have done with them, and have no more concern 
with them. Nor do we satisfy our duty by merely 
mourning some months for them. But we must by 
faith follow them into the invisible world, and rejoice 
with them in their happy advancement. We must 
call to mind those graces and virtues which shined in 
their lives, and strive, by imitating them, to come to 
the same blessedness." 1 

My brethren, the men of the past had their respon- 
sibilities and trials, their conflicts and triumphs, and 
we have ours. All down the tide of ages, there comes 
a voice telling us " the Lord loveth the spates of Zion 
more than all the dwellings of Jacob." He loves the 
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which to His 
name belong. Prayer is the ordained medium of 
communication between the spirit and the Father of 
spirits, the channel through which the seen and the 
unseen meet and hold converse together ; the flight of 
heavenly steps, which, like the ladder of Jacob, con- 
nects together two worlds ; and the Lord loves the 

1 Sermon, p. 14. 






190 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

sanctuary where multitudes come up to pray. He 
loves and blesses the work of a faithful Christian min- 
istry. It is true, we ambassadors for Christ live in a 
day when the habits of social life are more luxurious 
and artificial, and the manners of men not so simple 
and confiding, and hence we meet with some impedi- 
ments which have become stronger since the times of 
your first three rectors, Beach, Perry, and Burhans. 
Under their ministrations, it was recognized to be the 
duty of every one to attend public worship. It was 
recognized by statute law, which exacted its support, 
and Christian families were contented to learn in this 
way, and from their Bibles and Prayer Books all that 
was necessary to make them wise unto salvation. 
Great attention was paid to the lessons of the pulpit, 
and eager hearts had a craving for the truth and the 
doctrine of the Church. When Bishop Seabury made 
his first visitation in Litchfield County, " an amazing 
throng of people " gathered to hear him in and around 
the old church on Litchfield Hill. " Fifteen hun- 
dred," says an eye-witness, " were supposed to be 
present. His subject was the doctrine of atonement, 
on which his observations were so striking that it was 
almost impossible to restrain the audience from loud 
shouts of approbation." * 

1 Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, at that time rector in Litchfield, writing to his 
friend Tillotson Bronson, a deacon at Strafford, Vt., November 15, 1787, 
said : — 

" Bishop Seabury has at last made a tour into our quarter. . . . His 
visit among us was attended with great applause to himself and much 
pleasure to the Church people. At Simsbury, confirmation was adminis- 
tered to about 200 persons, Harwinton, 40, Cambridge, 56, Northbury 
103, Litchfield, 165. An amazing throng of people attended with us. 
There was supposed to be fifteen hundred people present. His subject 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 191 

I shall be misunderstood, if I leave upon your 
minds the impression that we have not attentive 
hearers now. Thanks be to the Lord for the tokens 
of our growth, and for the testimonies that the clergy 
of the Church are a mighty power in the land, and 
speak to those who are ready to accept and obey 
" the truth as it is in Jesus." 

But to say nothing of the ministers of the Congre- 
gational system in New England, and nothing of the 
ministers of other denominations everywhere, we are 
not the only teachers of what is called religion. The 
periodical press, throbbing with the excitements and 
interests of every-day life, has a ceaseless influence, 
and it too often assumes the position of an instructor 
in things appertaining to the house of God. It is im- 
possible to keep the secular guides of public opinion 
off our ground. There is a large domain of subject 
which, of necessity, is common to us both. And when 
we come together here, our relative ascendency over 
the popular mind is apt to be determined, not by the 
stronger official right to teach, but by the greater 
skill and raciness of the teacher. Eomanism, too, has 
arisen to confront us with its enmity against the prin- 
ciples of the English Reformation, as well as to claim 
a right to interfere with matters which lie at the very 
basis of the prosperity of our public schools. We 
have new schemes of fanaticism to expose. We have 

was the doctrine of atonement, on which his observations were so strik- 
ing that it was almost impossible to restrain the audience from loud 
shouts of approbation. Whilst with me, he was visited by the most 
respectable people in town. I waited on him to Goshen, Salisbury, and 
Sharon, where we parted, after having spent a fortnight in the most 
agreeable manner that I ever was acquainted with. — MS. letter. 



192 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

all manner of skeptical insinuations to deal with, and 
the net which, in the eighteenth century, was spread 
mainly to catch the thoughtful intellects of .the age, 
is thrown wider and farther now, so that the popular 
imagination is caught by the " shreds and patches of 
old misbeliefs, which have been scattered up and 
down the pages of a miscellaneous literature." We 
are brought in contact with minds, some of them pro- 
fessedly attached to the Church, that ask for a wide 
margin of belief — a margin broader than revelation 
will allow. They appear to be in a condition, intel- 
lectually, which is half faith and half infidelity, and 
the duty is imposed upon us by the vows of ordina- 
tion to guard must sacredly "sound doctrine," and to 
stand " by the word of God which liveth and abideth 
forever." 

Are not the responsibilities of the clergy, my breth- 
ren, weighty in these days ? If we have not the pre- 
cise cares and anxieties of our forefathers, can we 
ever forget that we are to feed and infold our flocks, 
guarding them from the approach of spiritual foes ? 
Can we ever forget that we are to teach, as a funda- 
mental truth, that Christ is the Son of the living God, 
and the Saviour of all them that believe ? The man- 
tle of the grand past of the Church has descended 
upon us, and we must preserve the inheritance. It 
would be as vain, consistently with an honest and 
true interpretation, to strip our articles and formu- 
laries of their distinctive doctrines and teachings, 
as it would be to attempt to take the color out of 
the skies, or to extract the hues of beauty from the 
plumage of the bird. 



THE FOUNDATION IN THE HOLY MOUNTAINS. 193 

I think, therefore, you will agree with me that the 
breadth and fullness of our work, in this day and gen- 
eration, reach beyond the common view ; that besides 
being pastors, and priests to stand in the house of 
God and wait upon His people, we are to be students, 
" clad in complete steel," equipped w T ith the best 
armor to defend the faith delivered once to the saints ; 
students of Scripture and of history, who, while dis- 
tinguishing between truth and error, and rejecting 
the audacious novelties of human speculation, are still 
resolved to keep abreast with the noblest thought of 
the age. 

The building of a church like this, and by an ancient 
parish like this, is some proof that the old truths have 
a living freshness, and that the good blood of the 
ancestors circles in the veins of their posterity. Re- 
member, my Christian friends, the great object of 
the undertaking which you have now accomplished. 
These walls have not been raised to gratify the fancy 
of the builders, or to fill out the beauty of a village 
landscape. When the dawn of eternity comes to tame 
down and sober in us the fevered dreams of human 
life, it will be pleasant to reflect that according to the 
blessing and measure of our store we " have done 
good deeds for the house of our God and for the offi- 
ces thereof," but it will be better to know and to feel 
that we have habitually sought His way in the sanc- 
tuary, and pressed through the gates for the Bread 
of Life. 

May you all find here refreshing succors for the 
soul, the delights of prayer and praise, the blessing 
of the preached word, the illuminating and sanctify- 

13 



194 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ing comforts of the Holy Ghost, and the "inward and 
spiritual grace" of the sacraments. Here, through 
long ages, may the testimony to the truth be wel- 
comed, — to the whole truth as embodied in the Creed 
of the Church, and held by sainted men of old in its 
completeness, in its mysterious sublimity, in its depth 
and divine fullness. And may there never fail from 
out these courts a priesthood in the line which takes 
commission from the day of Christ's ascension on 
Olivet; nor a people who rise to the jubilant Psalm: 

" go your way into His gates with thanksgiving, 
and into His courts with praise ; be thankful unto 
Him, and speak good of His name : — 

For the Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting, 
and His truth endureth from generation to genera- 
tion. " 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
Holy Ghost ; 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall 
be, world without end. Amen. 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 

SERMON AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE SET- 
TLEMENT OF REVEREND JOHN RUTGERS MARSHALL, M. A., 
LN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, WOODBURY, CONNECTICUT, SEP- 
TEMBER 6, 1871. 

The Rev. John Rutgers Marshall, M. A., began his ministrations as a 
missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts, at Woodbury, in the autumn of 1771. The one hundredth anni- 
versary of his settlement was celebrated Wednesday, September 6, 1871 ; 
and the beautiful day and the occasion drew together the village people 
and many of the clergy and laity of the adjoining towns, and many from 
places more remote, who had once belonged to the parish, or had 
descended from Woodbury families. 

Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their 
heart? Job viii. 10. 

My position to-night bears some resemblance to 
that of Ruth, the Moabitess, when in the beginning 
of barley harvest she was permitted to go out into 
the field of Boaz and glean after the reapers. A few 
handfuls have been purposely left for me to gather, 
but the rich and full sheaves have been already 
taken and I am only as a gleaner at the end of the 
harvest. 1 

1 Three services were held, the first in the morning at half-past ten 
o'clock, when Bishop Williams preached a sermon, reciting the origin, 
work, and some of the fruits of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, and especially its work in Connecticut. 

At two o'clock p. m. the second service was held, when the rector, 



196 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Without expecting therefore to keep up the inter- 
est which has been awakened, I would ask you, my 
friends, to linger with me still over the days that are 
passed, and to ponder the salutary instruction which 
they serve so well to convey. Commemorative occa- 
sions like this are intended to do justice to the virtue 
and piety of our forefathers. " Shall not they teach 
thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their 
heart ? " 

The new interlocutor, who comes forward in the 
eighth chapter of the book of Job, vindicates God and 
His ways, and endeavors to enforce the foregoing argu- 
ments of Eliphaz, the Temanite. Very little balm and 
kindliness, we think, are infused into his language, 
and when he calls the attention of the patriarch to 
the loss of his children, he employs terms which seem 
harsh and cruel, and fitted, for the moment, rather to 
increase than to allay his exasperation. But he 
appeals to antiquity for the lessons of a larger expe- 
rience than we can obtain in this brief life of ours. 
The voice of antiquity is always an instructive voice, 
and we study with profit the leading incidents and 
characters of former times. 

The friend of Job knew this, and gave his counsels 
accordingly. " For inquire, I pray thee, of the former 
age ; and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. 
. . . Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter 
words out of their heart ? " 

Rev. John Purves, delivered an address to the congregation, briefly 
sketching the history of the parish, and presenting the Church as the 
river of God, widening and gathering power as it flows on to the sea. 

The third service was in the evening at seven o'clock, when this ser- 
mon was preached. 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 197 

Your thoughts to-day have been carried back a cen- 
tury, and fixed upon the trials and troubles which 
surrounded the Church while Connecticut was a col- 
ony. A century is a long period in ecclesiastical 
history. Less than nineteen such periods have elapsed 
since the birth of Christ, less than four since the dis- 
covery and settlement of America by the Europeans, 
and there is no one living and before me now whose 
recollections begin with the establishment in this 
town of a missionary of the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The events and 
changes in the space of a hundred years are of sublime 
and manifold influence. We can none of us foresee 
or measure the remote results of individual transac- 
tions. What appears small at the time may reach 
out into great and beneficent proportions. The 
stream, whose head is scarcely perceptible on the 
mountain top, rolls silently onward, and widens and 
deepens with the tributaries which it receives, until 
it becomes a mighty river, pouring its floods into the 
mightier ocean. 

The passage of the Stamp Act by the Parliament 
of Great Britain was in itself a thing of little import- 
ance, but it led to a revolution that finally severed 
the Colonies from the mother country. Though it 
was repealed, to the honor of the Rockingham minis- 
try and the great joy of the Colonists, just one year 
after its enactment, yet the healing measure was ac- 
companied by a declaration that "Parliament had a 
right to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever," 
and this claim it was which rankled in the breasts of 
the American people, and caused them to prepare for 



198 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

resisting the British crown, and organizing an inde- 
pendent and separate form of government. It was 
felt to be, and it was, an unhappy day for the Church 
of England here, that the struggle for obtaining the 
Episcopacy was going on at the time when there 
prevailed a spirit of universal clamor and discontent 
about the Stamp Act. Opposition to the appeals of 
the clergy took the strangest shapes, and busy per- 
sons on this side of the Atlantic had their agents in 
London to watch the progress of events and promote 
the designs of those who thought they were working 
to prevent the ultimate establishment of a " monarch- 
ical government with a legally associated hierarchy," 
when they resisted the introduction of bishops into 
this country. In consequence of the disorders and 
seditions that spread among the disaffected Colonists, 
the venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel was reluctant to create any more missions in 
New England, — a step which filled the clergy of the 
Church with real grief and concern. Provision, how- 
ever, continued to be made for those already erected, 
and men were ordained to supply the vacancies that 
death or removal might occasion. 

John Kutgers Marshall was the last but one of those 
candidates who went from Connecticut on the peril- 
ous and expensive voyage across the ocean for holy 
orders. He had been reared in the city of New York, 
where he was born of parents who belonged to the 
Dutch Keformed Church, but the hills of Litchfield 
County must have been familiar to him in his boy- 
hood, if it be true, as it has been said, that his pre- 
liminary course of studies was pursued under the 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 199 

direction of the celebrated Dr. Bellamy of Bethlehem. 
For a time he was a merchant at Stratford, but in the 
summer of 1770, when he was more than twenty- 
seven years of age, we find him with Dr. Johnson in 
his retirement at that place, studying divinity and 
preparing to come to Woodbury "without any ex- 
pectation from the society." That veteran champion 
of Episcopacy had conceived the plan of holding, in 
his advanced years, what he was pleased to call " a 
little academy, or resource for young students of 
divinity, to prepare them for holy orders," designed 
chiefly to improve them in classical learning, to teach 
them Hebrew, and direct and aid them in theological 
attainments ; and before they proceeded to England, 
if not graduated otherwise, he procured them the 
degree of Master of Arts from King's (now Columbia) 
College in New York. Marshall's graduation from 
that institution appears to have been of this kind, and 
his name is entered in the general catalogue as receiv- 
ing it in 1770. 1 He returned from England the next 
year, "licensed and authorized" by the Bishop of 
London "to perform the office of a minister or priest 
at Woodbury, or elsewhere within the province of 
Connecticut in North America." 

Locating himself here, where no house of public 
worship had been erected for churchmen, he extended 
his ministrations to various localities, and fed some of 
the scattered flocks which were yet fresh in their sor- 
row over the death of that young and accomplished 
soldier of the Cross, Thomas Davies. Ancient Wood- 

1 Catalogue, 1888, and Life and Correspondence of Rev. Dr. Samuel 
Johnson. 



200 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

bury was territorially large, and embraced divisions 
which long since were incorporated into separate 
towns. Nor were the inhabitants very sparsely scat- 
tered through these hills and valleys. The population 
was almost as numerous a century ago as it is now. A 
venerable divine, 1 acting under appointment of a Con- 
vention of delegates from the Presbyterian Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia, and from the Congrega- 
tional associations of Connecticut, undertook to collect 
statistics relative to the number of Episcopalians in 
the colony and their proportion to non-Episcopalians. 
The enumeration was designed to operate with the 
home government, and to check what was to the del- 
egates most offensive, the plan of sending bishops into 
this country. By the returns, which were made Sep- 
tember 5, 1774, Woodbury then contained a popula- 
tion of 5,224, but the proportion of Episcopalians was 
not given. Whether they were few or many, they 
all came under the spiritual oversight and charge of 
the missionary appointed to this town. 

The lot of my own youthful ministry was cast in a 
parish of Connecticut, where lived in a green old age 
one of the daughters of Mr. Marshall. Upon the 
death of her husband, who was a clergyman of our 
Church, 2 she placed in my hands a number of the 
manuscript sermons of her father, of precise and beau- 
tiful penmanship ; and they are noted as having been 
preached by him at Woodbury, Roxbury, Judea, 
Great Barrington, and other places. It was thus a 
wide circuit that he reached in his ministrations, and 

1 Elizur Goodrich of Durham, see Minutes of Convention, pp. 62, 63. 

2 Rev. Reuben Ives, who died at Cheshire, October 14, 1836. 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 201 

his missionary life of necessity was filled up with per- 
petual solicitudes and self-sacrifices. We do not at 
this day, I think, comprehend all the toils and trials 
of such a life, the constant watchings, the weariness 
and painfulness, the inner griefs at the contradiction 
of sinners and the outward exposure to a rigorous and 
variable climate, the lack of facilities for rapid travel- 
ing, the lonely rides, and the journeys over rough 
and winding roads, long and tedious, and never short- 
ened except by bridle paths through the primeval 
forests. 

But harder than these were the trials which befell 
the missionaries of the Church of England upon the 
outbreak of the Eevolutionary war. Marshall was 
one of the twenty in Connecticut who was at his post 
when the clouds burst that had so long hung threat- 
eningly in the American sky. Like his brethren, he 
shared in the indignities and hatreds with which they 
were visited who had consciences in regard to the 
oaths of allegiance taken at their ordination, and who 
were not ready therefore to renounce them hastily 
and join in the clamors for independence. I would 
not awaken unpleasant feelings by recurring to the 
faults and mistakes of the Revolution, but it is due to 
the truth of history to mention on this occasion, that 
the missionary in Woodbury, besides being restricted 
in the performance of his public services and some- 
times forcibly carried from the house where he was 
officiating, was the victim of personal violence. Mis- 
siles were hurled at him as he walked forth into the 
highway, and a confinement to his house for weeks 
was the result of injuries which he received from 



202 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

being once waylaid and severely beaten while return- 
ing from a duty in Roxbury. There must have been 
strangely prejudiced minds here to allow this, perhaps 
men who in childhood had learned bad lessons from 
John Graham, — a Congregational divine in the south 
part of the town, and a Scotchman by birth, who had 
no sympathy with the theology of your rector, for he 
wrote scurrilous verses about the Church of England 
and misrepresented and ridiculed her practices and 
her members. Of course the heated temper of the 
Revolutionary times had much to do with the viola- 
tions of law, and patriots and tories were alike guilty 
of deeds which will not bear to be examined in the 
light of the better judgments and kindlier neighbor- 
hoods of our own day. 

But the offense of Marshall was only political and 
ecclesiastical ; and he was a Christian man, who did 
not invoke vengeance upon his enemies. He closed 
a sermon, written and preached when the war and 
the passions of the people were at their height, with 
words which must have had a solemn meaning for 
himself as well as for his hearers. " Let us," said he, 
" from the bottom of our hearts forgive all men, as we 
desire our Judge to forgive us. Let us be careful 
to hurt no man, and if we have injured any, let us 
repair the injury. Let us abhor all impurity and 
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ; and whilst 
we daily strive to do God's will, let us humbly, yet 
confidently, trust in God's promises that our sins shall 
be pardoned, and we received into heaven through 
the riches of grace in store for us in Christ." 1 

1 MS. Sermon. 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 203 

At length the persecutions ceased, — the long strug- 
gle was over, — the independence of the Colonies was 
acknowledged, but the Church — oh ! the Church 
everywhere throughout the land was in desolation ! 
The tie which bound us to England had been severed, 
and without the Episcopacy, without the succor of 
the venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, gloom, thick gloom overhung the immediate 
prospects of the missionaries, and especially of those 
in Connecticut. Of the twenty who at the beginning 
of the war were faithfully serving their flocks, four 
had fled for protection within the lines of the British 
army, two had descended to the grave, and the re- 
mainder were still in connection with their poor, 
thinned, and broken parishes. No time was to be 
lost, and therefore ten of the missionaries, in whose 
breasts lingered a glowing love of the Church, rallied 
to gather up the fragments and organize for the future. 
It was on the 25th of March, 1783, just after the pub- 
lication of the Treaty of Peace, that they met here in 
Woodbury, at the house of Mr. Marshall, far away 
from the centres of influence and observation, and the 
meeting was "kept a profound secret, even from 
their most intimate friends of the laity." Their first 
thought, very properly, was to secure the highest 
order in the ministry ; and enough of their proceed- 
ings has come to light to indicate the fear which was 
felt of reviving the former opposition to an American 
Episcopate, and thus of defeating their plan to com- 
plete the organization of the Church, and provide for 
its inherent perpetuity in this country. Another fear 
was felt that a plan lately formed and published in 



204 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Philadelphia to constitute a nominal Episcopate by 
the united suffrages of presbyters and laymen might 
be carried into execution. 

I am not going over the whole story of Seabury's 
election at Woodbury by the clergy of Connecticut. 
It will be sufficient to quote a paragraph from the 
letter of their secretary, written in their behalf and 
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. " To lay 
the foundation/' said they, " for a valid and regular 
Episcopate in America, we earnestly entreat your 
Grace, that in your archiepiscopal character, you will 
espouse the cause of our sinking Church, and at this 
important crisis afford her that relief on which her 
very existence depends by consecrating a bishop for 
Connecticut. The person whom we have prevailed 
upon to offer himself to your Grace for that purpose 
is the reverend Dr. Samuel Seabury, who has been 
the Society's worthy missionary for many years. He 
was born and educated in Connecticut ; he is person- 
ally known to us, and we believe him to be every 
way well qualified for the Episcopal office, and for 
those duties peculiar to it in the present trying and 
dangerous times." 

Dr. Seabury arrived in London on the 7th of July, 
about three months after the meeting of the clergy 
in Woodbury, and found the way to his consecration 
blocked up by unexpected impediments. The Arch- 
bishops of Canterbury and York, though sensible of 
the merits of his application, foresaw great difficul- 
ties and were embarrassed by various considerations. 
The American Episcopate had been a subtle ministe- 
rial affair of the Government for more than half a 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 205 

century, and nobody in England now seemed willing 
to risk anything for the sake of the Church, or for the 
sake of continuing Episcopal ordinations in this coun- 
try. Parliament had passed an act "to empower the 
Bishop of London for the time being," or any other 
bishop appointed by him, to admit to the diaconate or 
priesthood "persons being subjects or citizens of coun- 
tries out of his Majesty's dominions," without requir- 
ing the oaths of allegiance ; but consecration to Jbhe 
apostolic office was viewed from another standpoint, 
and held in abeyance partly because the formal con- 
sent of no State legislature had been obtained, and 
partly from an apprehension of giving umbrage to a 
power with whom a treaty of peace had but lately been 
signed. A long correspondence between Seabury and 
the Connecticut clergy ensued, and while he was wait- 
ing in London for the result of pending negotiations 
and for Parliamentary measures of relief, something 
was to be done to keep things right at home. Who 
stood up more resolutely then, or who was more hope- 
ful for the Church than John Kutgers Marshall ? His 
neighbors at Waterbury and New Milford, — Scovill 
and Clarke, — deprived of their stipends from the 
Society, if they continued in the States, accepted 
new missions in the British Provinces with increased 
salaries, and removed thither with portions of their 
flock ; and Andrews of Wallingford and Veits of 
Simsbury, lured by tempting proposals, followed their 
example. 

Then there was a movement started elsewhere to 
adopt some general plan of ecclesiastical union, and a 
voluntary meeting of clergy and laymen from differ- 



206 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ent States for this purpose was held in New York, 
October, 1784. Marshall was appointed to represent 
his brethren in that meeting, and he read to the 
assembly, as you heard in the address of your rector, 
a paper to the effect " that the clergy of Connecticut 
had taken measures for obtaining an Episcopate; that 
until their design in that particular should be accom- 
plished they could do nothing; but that as soon as 
they should have succeeded, they would come forward 
with their bishop for the doing of what the general 
interests of the Church might require." It was upon 
the prudent principles of the paper thus read that 
they continued to act, but the delays to the accom- 
plishment of their wishes almost wore out their 
patience. Seabury had been more than a year in 
London trying to remove the political obstacles to his 
consecration, and waiting the tardy action of those 
who had taken his case in hand, when his attention 
was directed to a Church north of the Tweed, where 
there were no State oaths to hamper the little College 
of Bishops, and no silken cord binding together the 
crown and the crosier. With his funds nearly ex- 
hausted, and by the advice of English friends and 
with the approbation of his clergy, he gave up all 
hopes of being consecrated at Lambeth, and turned 
his face towards Aberdeen, the granite city in the north 
of Scotland, where he found the way prepared for his 
cordial reception. The bishops of the Church in Scot- 
land were non-jurors, successors of those English pre- 
lates who, at the Kevolution of 1688, were deprived 
of their revenues and dignity by the civil power 
because they refused to disown submission to James 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 207 

the Second and swear allegiance to William the Third, 
Prince of Orange. 1 The validity of their orders was 
undoubted, and the only objection to them was on 
the score of their political principles, and these put 
them under the ban and made them and their clergy 
at one time the subject of severe laws and bitter 
penalties. They were forbidden to officiate except in 
private houses, and then only for four persons besides 
those of the household, or, if in an uninhabited build- 
ing, for a number not exceeding four. In many rural 
places their houses of worship were burnt by military 
detachments, and in towns where burning was unsafe 
they were shut up or demolished. The severe laws 
against them had not been repealed a century ago, 
but their edge had worn away and they had become 
almost wholly inoperative, so that new churches were 
erected and larger assemblies gathered. 

Seabury was publicly consecrated at Aberdeen on 
Sunday, the 14th day of November, 1784. The 

1 The death of Charles Edward, at Rome, January 31, 1788, the last 
of the Stuarts who claimed the throne, left the Scottish bishops and 
clergy free to offer their allegiance to George III. and to pray for him 
by name. Under the authority of the Episcopal College an explanatory 
mandate was issued, directing the clergy to make public notification to 
their respective congregations on the 18th of May, 1788, that upon the 
following Sunday nominal prayers for the king would be introduced and 
afterwards continued in the language of the English liturgy. 

An old Jacobite, Mr. Campbell, says : "Well do I remember the day 
on which the name of George was mentioned in the morning service for 
the first time. — such blowing of noses, such significant hums, such half- 
suppressed sighs, such smothered groans and universal confusion can 
hardly be conceived. But the deed was done, and those who had parti- 
cipated could not retract." See Stephens's History Church of Scotland, 
vol. iv. p. 414. 

The penal statutes were repealed in 1792. 



208 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

service was held in a building erected by Bishop John 
Skinner, and so constructed that it was used partly 
as a chapel and partly as a residence for himself and 
family. It stood in Long-Acre — an obscure part of 
the city — and was reached by a narrow lane where no 
large carriages pass, — just the spot which one might 
suppose the non-jurors, in a time of distressful perse- 
cution, would select to offer their devotions and escape 
the observation of their enemies. It was removed in 
1795, and on the site was built a plain stone structure 
almost square, with high galleries and straight-backed, 
comfortless pews. The Episcopalians, on the erection 
of a new St. Andrew's in a better locality, abandoned 
this edifice after using it nearly a quarter of a century, 
and sold it to the Wesleyan Methodists, who have 
since occupied it as a house of public worship. Twelve 
months ago I was in Aberdeen, and among the first 
things which I inquired after was the place of Sea- 
bury 's consecration, which I finally found. Before 
leaving the city I made a second pilgrimage to a 
place so interesting to me as a Connecticut church- 
man, and you may imagine that many associations 
crowded into my mind as I stood reverently on that 
spot and connected it with Woodbury and with the 
whole Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America. 1 

Marshall was among the happy clergy who wel- 
comed Seabury on his return, after the long toils and 
wanderings he had undergone to secure the apostolic 

1 When 1 again visited Aberdeen in October, 1884, the Methodists 
had disposed of the property, the building was given up to purely secular 
uses, and there was nothing in the surroundings to awaken any religious 
sentiment. 



THE LESSONS OF THE PAST. 209 

office. He must have heard him lift up his voice 
under these rafters, and presented to him at an early 
visitation in Litchfield County the precious tokens of 
a pastor's zeal and fidelity. He supported him in 
every effort to establish our ecclesiastical system in 
this country on a right and permanent basis ; but 
alas ! his death in the vigor of his manhood was too 
soon for him to witness the complete union of the 
Episcopal Church in all the States, the adoption of a 
general Constitution and the revision and ratification 
of the Book of Common Prayer. He laid down his 
armor and went to his rest just as the richer fruits of 
his ministry began to cheer his benevolent heart, and 
just as Jerusalem was to have peace within its walls, 
and joy, if not plenteousness, within its palaces. He 
died at Woodbury, January 21, 1789. 

It is full time that this discourse was ended, — but 
one or two more thoughts press upon my mind, and 
I must give them utterance. 

Though the British Parliament subsequently re- 
moved all impediments by a special act, and Kev. 
William White of Pennsylvania and Rev. Samuel 
Provoost of New York, and at a later date Rev. 
James Madison of Virginia, set sail for England, and 
were consecrated at Lambeth, yet at the first conse- 
cration of a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States, that of Dr. Claggett at New 
York, the four assembled bishops, namely, Provoost, 
Seabury, White, and Madison, joined in the act ; and 
thus the English and Scottish lines of succession were 
blended together. Not a single bishop of our Church 
in this country — and the list is becoming a long and 

14 



210 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

noble one — has since been ordained who cannot run 
back on the line of consecrations to Samuel Seabury, 
first Bishop of Connecticut and of the American 
Church. We owe to him, in conjunction with the 
amiable and godly White, provisions in our liturgy 
which the lapse of a century has endeared to us, and 
which, we trust, no hand will rashly tear away, as if 
Scriptural truth can change, and apostolic order and 
discipline be brought under the dominion and direc- 
tion of modern doubts and misbeliefs. Let it be our 
solemn determination to defend the inheritance be- 
queathed to us, and to preserve in their integrity 
those bulwarks to which under God the conservation 
of our privileges and prosperity must be attributed. 
While we are all examples of peace and patience and 
Christian moderation, let us not forget or be afraid to 
do as our fathers did before us, stand up for the right 
and the truth, never for one moment allowing that a 
negative creed and latitudinarian formularies will suit 
well enough the age in which we live and the gene- 
rations that are to come. Let us be content to linger 
in the old Church, and around the paths so long 
trodden, the old Church of the Reformers, — of Cran- 
mer, Latimer, and Ridley, of Hooker, Herbert, and 
Taylor, of Seabury, White, and Griswold. So shall we 
be in the ways of holiness and righteousness, " and 
God, even our own God, shall give us His blessing." 
Amen. 



/ 



ANNIVERSAEY SEEMON 

IN ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, NEW HAVEN, ON THE TWENTY- 
FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PARISH, EASTER, 1873. 

Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it 
to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever ; 
He will be our guide even unto death. Psalm xlviii. 13, 14. 

This psalm is a song of triumph, in which the 
strength and glory of Jerusalem are celebrated, and 
God is acknowledged as a sure refuge. It is a 
beautiful picture of the security of the Church, cen- 
tred in Zion, and there is reason to believe that it 
was composed after the sudden and miraculous over- 
throw of the army of Sennacherib under the very 
walls of the Holy City. That proud conqueror had 
swept the land with his victories, and it seemed to 
all eyes, except the eye of faith, impossible that the 
enfeebled garrison in Jerusalem could successfully 
resist his approach and rise up in triumph. But the 
Lord of Hosts, who keeps watch and ward over His 
people, sent the oppressive stillness of death into the 
vast camp of the Assyrians, and thereby a deliverance 
was wrought which filled the whole nation with won- 
der and joy. The temple, the towers, the palaces 
within the besieged gates, were left in all their beauty, 
saved from the hand of the spoiler by a mighty mira- 
cle; and the sacred poet, kindling with emotion as 
he surveys them and thinks of Jehovah, " great and 



212 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

greatly to be praised," pens what is here entitled a 
" Song and Psalm for the Sons of Korah." 

Some dreadful danger, at least, had been passed, 
and under images borrowed from the earthly city, 
newly rescued from her enemies, is described the 
fabric of the spiritual Jerusalem, wonderfully raised, 
and as wonderfully preserved. It is one of the 
special psalms appointed by the Church to be used 
on Whitsunday, not only because it bears internal 
evidence that it was designed to be sung in the ser- 
vice of the Temple, but because it speaks of the 
accomplishment of predictions which relate to the 
effusion of the Spirit, and the enlargement, establish- 
ment and preservation of the kingdom of the Messiah 
in the Gentile world. 

The text is that portion of it which directs atten- 
tion specially to the beauty and firmness of the old 
and earthly Jerusalem, and we see in these words 
that its material glory was to be admired, not so 
much for the sake of raising the proud shout of deliv- 
erance as of transmitting the memory of Jehovah's 
mercy and protection to future generations. 

u Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces \ 
that ye may tell it to the generation following. For 
this God is our God forever and ever ; He will be our 
guide even unto death." 

Thus it seems evident that the people were to rely 
upon the objects of faith rather than upon the objects 
of sense; that the "bulwarks" they were to mark 
were figuratively the beauty of holiness, the presence 
of God in His Church, and His precious promises in 
regard to its perpetuity. Indeed, the destruction of 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 213 

the Temple in the minds of the Jews was viewed as 
coeval with the end of the world, or with that new 
constitution of things which they supposed would 
take place at the Advent of the Messiah. On one occa- 
sion, when the disciples pointed our Saviour with 
wonder and pride to the great buildings, adorned with 
goodly stones and gifts, He uttered a prediction that 
all should be thrown down and not one stone left 
upon another. God would not be our God forever 
and ever, and our guide even unto death, if His mercy 
and protection had been limited to the Temple, and 
to the metropolis of the whole Jewish nation. The 
Psalmist, therefore, under the inspiration of the Divine 
Spirit, must have looked forward to the Christian 
Church, and seen it founded on the Rock and guarded 
in its ministry and ordinances by Him who neither 
slumbers nor sleeps. The inheritance of which faith 
and hope make this Church the blessed possessor lies 
in the past and in the future, and one unaltered 
Author and channel of mercies is visible alike in both 
the origin and fulfillment of Christian triumph and 

The old foundations of the Jewish economy are a 
part of the " bulwarks " and " palaces " of the new 
dispensation. We build upon them " in Jesus Christ, 
the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," and we 
build upon them with the certain hope that our labor 
will not be in vain. Though the cycles of God's 
providence transcend our grasp, " one day being 
with Him as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day," yet we may not pause in our work when 
discouragement overtakes it, nor leave to " the gene- 



214 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

rations following " an example of the least distrust 
in the promises of the Gospel. The duty is ours, the 
fulfillment is His. We are not to be judges of results, 
for much of the glory of the Church is invisible to 
mortal eyes, and we cannot, if we would, undraw the 
veil that hangs before the Eternal Throne. The 
Church lives without actually beholding the vivifier, 
and because Christ has promised to be with it "always, 
even unto the end of the world," its individual 
members must rejoice to know that the precious in- 
heritance of faith is independent of the success of 
human speculation. Those who are Christians more 
in name than in principle — who, though within the 
walls of the holy temple, worship only in its outer 
courts — cannot help owning a sympathy with enter- 
prises begun and carried on for the good of souls and 
the welfare of society. 

As each believer is to be a witness of the truth and 
to vindicate in his person the true worship of God, so 
the aggregation of believers in parishes should testify 
by works their love of the Divine law, and preserve, 
as far as they may, the sacred framework of the 
Church in its perfectness, and the good deposit of 
Christian doctrine in its integrity. We commemo- 
rate to-day an event which proves that He who under- 
took the office of Mediator was equal to the mighty 
work, and did indeed restore that access to God the 
Father which human transgression had fatally inter- 
rupted. We welcome the notes which remind us at 
this season that the resurrection of Christ is a mani- 
festation of His complete authority over the power of 
physical decay and death. This doctrine is one of 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 215 

the " bulwarks " of our faith, — for if it be not true, 
if Christ be not risen, we should preach in vain, 
and there would be no "first fruits of them that 
slept." 

The great Easter festival revives for us memories 
that run back over a period of twenty-five years; 
and it is well at this point of time to take some notice 
of our progress as a parish, and of events associated 
with its prosperity. Not many among you have 
any personal knowledge of the little company of 
worshipers that gathered Easter Sunday, April 23, 
1848, in the lecture-room near the foot of Orange 
Street, to participate in the first public services of St. 
Thomas's Parish, conducted by your present rector. 
A legal parochial organization had been effected on 
the 24 th of February, two months previous to this 
date, and the intermediate time had been spent by 
the projectors in securing a rector and arranging and 
providing for his support. It was a parish without a 
house for public worship or a lot on which to build 
one. The faith of those who originated it was larger 
than their personal influence or their pecuniary abil- 
ity, and because the enterprise was thus commenced 
some honestly feared that it would prove a failure. 
Before much had been done, and while the new organ- 
ization was attracting the attention of Episcopalians 
in the city, a zealous Christian woman, now gone to 
her rest, was one day asked by a friend " why it was 
named St. Thomas's Church?" And the rather sar- 
castic reply was given, that " she did not know, unless 
it was to indicate the doubtfulness of the project." 

At that Easter festival, celebrated when the open- 



216 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ing services were held, twenty-five communicants 
were present, and about thirty families originally 
composed the congregation. I pass over in this 
review the usual trials and obstacles which beset 
all such enterprises in their commencement, — the 
hired room too narrow for the growing congregation, 
and every way unchurchlike and uninviting ; the cau- 
tious steps, taken before the year in which the parish 
was formed had closed, to purchase this lot on Elm 
Street, and then the preliminary measures to erect 
upon it without delay a temporary chapel ; the influx 
of another class of worshipers, and soon the demand 
for a better, more beautiful and more spacious edi- 
fice ; the long and earnest consultations touching its 
erection, the final decision to go forward; and the 
shelter which we found for ourselves in a "large 
upper room," while the work of building the Church 
was in progress, — all these points I pass over now, 
because they were principally gathered up on the 
occasion of our tenth anniversary, and the sermon 
which contains them, delivered at that time, was 
printed and made accessible to you. 

The last official act of Bishop Brownell in New 
Haven was to consecrate this Church, on the 19th of 
April, in Easter week, 1855, — and though he lived 
for a period of nearly ten years, yet he performed 
only once again the same service elsewhere. None 
but those who have gone through the many solici- 
tudes and vexations incident to the erection of a 
house of public worship, and who have witnessed day 
by day the slowly-rising walls, can really understand, 
in all their length and breadth, the meaning of the 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 217 

prophet's words applied to the completion of the 
second Temple : " He shall bring forth the headstone 
thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." 
After having been wanderers for more than a year, 
we were glad to come back to the spot around which 
our thoughts had centred, and to take possession of 
a sanctuary of appropriate architecture, and as taste- 
ful as it is beautiful. 

Since the consecration of the Church much has 
been done for the outward prosperity of the parish, 
because much remained to be done. A burdensome 
debt has been removed, — the first great step towards 
it having been taken in the summer of 1858, when, 
with the aid of a few friends not belonging to the 
congregation, — friends who cannot and who will not 
be forgotten, so long as the records are preserved, — 
a subscription was commenced, filled up and paid, 
amounting to $15,075. 

Then the Easter offertory, seven years ago, of about 
eight thousand dollars, was another evidence of your 
generosity and self-sacrificing zeal for the improve- 
ment of your financial condition. Besides extinguish- 
ing a mortgage which had been left upon the land 
from the date of its purchase, a small fund was thus 
created for future use, and this fund led you into ex- 
penses for the interior decorations and a new organ, 
which fell but little short of nine thousand dollars. 
The amount contributed since we have worshiped 
in this consecrated edifice, for objects within the parish, 
exclusive of the current expenses and Communion 
alms, omitting fractions, is $48,288, and for mission- 
ary and charitable purposes without the parish, in the 



218 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

* 

same time, $11,191, making a total of $59,479. It 
is a satisfaction to feel that we have paid back in the 
shape of missionary and charitable contributions al- 
most three times the amount received from our few 
outside friends, when we were weak and needed a 
little assistance. I trust that, with God's blessing, 
we shall show in the future how our liberality as a 
parish in such contributions can " abound more and 
more." It is a satisfaction to know also, as will be 
shown by the report of the treasurer to-morrow, that 
your condition financially was never so good as at this 
very moment. If those who come after us and take 
our responsibilities will manage with equal wisdom, 
and keep the world as much as possible out of the 
Church ; if they will be careful not to be pushed into 
extravagances of any kind, or made to think that 
God owns and blesses works and ways which are not 
described in the letter of His appointment, — then 
this parish may have a glorious future, and you who 
have done so much for it hitherto will be remem- 
bered, and have a claim of gratitude upon " the gene- 
rations following." 

Probably no one, as he moves on towards the end 
of his days, has any but pleasurable feelings in recall- 
ing his charities, and the good deeds which God has 
enabled him to do for His house and people. Men, 
eager for this world's riches, toil night and day to 
gather them, and make investments in institutions 
which are occasionally wrecked by mismanagement 
or dishonesty, — but nothing given for the Lord is 
ever really lost, or fails to be an element in storing 
up for the true-hearted believer a good foundation 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 219 

against the time to come. As it is the duty of the 
pastor to sympathize with his people in their sorrows 
and afflictions, so it is his right and privilege to 
rejoice when he beholds the blessings of a benignant 
Providence descending upon them, and rich-reward- 
ing gains attending their honest and diversified occu- 
pations. But he would be untrue to the Master 
whom he serves, and unfaithful to the Church of 
which he is a minister, if he did not often appeal to 
them in their prosperity, to remember from whom 
they have received, and to exercise a just steward- 
ship of the things which have only been lent them 
of the Lord. Because the day of human life is short, 
he would teach them, what they ought to accept 
without much persuasion, that the opportunities of 
usefulness are soon closed, and that the peace and 
welfare of society demand that they should not for- 
get the scriptural rule, " to whom much is given, of 
them shall much be required." 

It is not, however, in temporalities that we are to 
look for the best measure of parochial growth. No 
compact surely can be made between the Church 
and men of business, that if the one will keep their 
consciences and take care of their souls, the other 
will supply the means of supporting and extending 
Christian ministrations. While Christ would have 
us faithful stewards and show by our charities that 
we are alive to the outward beauty and maintenance 
of His house, this, let me say, is not the highest 
demand. It is not what He died and rose again for, 
— not what He instituted His church and appointed 
His ministry for. He would have us take up the 



220 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

cross and follow Him. He would have us receive 
into our hearts the Gospel which we preach, and " by 
which," as St. Paul says, " ye are saved, if ye keep in 
memory what I preached unto you, unless ye, have 
believed in vain." 

Hence it is that we place before outward prosper- 
ity and first in our ministrations the inner life, the 
growth in spiritual things, the being blessed and 
built up in that which is far better than all, the walk 
of holiness and righteousness. It is hardly possible 
in a discourse of this kind to avoid some egotism, 
and you will indulge me, therefore, when I say that 
I did not come here twenty-five years ago to make a 
nest for myself, in which to find repose when the 
infirmities of age should appear. Not to speak of 
its being a forgetfulness of duty and a violation of 
solemn vows, it would indicate singular folly and 
weakness in a minister to do this, since there are so 
many ways by which the nest might be disturbed, 
and he shut out from its enjoyment. I came here 
to do the work of my Master, under a new parochial 
organization, and I have felt all along a woe impend- 
ing over me if I preached not the Gospel. However 
unfaithful I may have been in other respects, you 
have had no reason to complain of long and frequent 
absences on my part, nor, thank God, have sick- 
nesses, which are the common lot of us all, prevented 
the uninterrupted fulfillment of my public duties. 
Except when I was out of the country for a few 
months in 1870, only one Communion Sunday in 
twenty-five years, and then a domestic sorrow de- 
tained me from the sanctuary, have you failed to see 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 221 

me in my place, consecrating those elements which 
Christ has made the symbols of his dying love. 

Our statistics do not show large and sudden acces- 
sions, but they show quiet and steady progress. 
Four hundred and thirty-two have been baptized, — 
three hundred and forty-eight infants, and eighty- 
four adults, — two hundred and eighty-eight con- 
firmed, six hundred and eleven admitted and re- 
ceived to the Holy Communion, — the communicants 
at the present time numbering two hundred and 
fifty -seven. I have married three hundred and 
sixty -three couples, and officiated at three hundred 
and ninety-four funerals. Death and removal make 
great changes in a congregation during the lapse of 
a quarter of a century. One vestryman alone re- 
mains of those who composed the original officers of 
the parish, and he was reelected at your last annual 
meeting, after having been separated from us for a 
season ; and besides him, of the first members of the 
congregation, but three heads of families are now pew- 
holders in the church. We have sent out from us, 
to New York and Brooklyn, and other places, fam- 
ilies enough to constitute a respectably-sized con- 
gregation, and if they have carried with them the 
instructions which they received here, if they " have 
kept in memory what was preached unto them," it is 
believed they will make their influence felt in their 
new connections, and so do good in their day and 
generation. This thought mitigates the pain of sep- 
arating from those who have long worshiped with 
us in the same sanctuary, and when they go from us, 
we cheerfully give them, what they deserve, our best 



222 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

benedictions. The pain is mitigated too by the fact 
that others are constantly coming in to supply the 
vacancies occasioned by their removal. 

The last twenty-five years have produced great 
changes in the relative strength and feeling of the 
Church in this city, as well as great changes in the 
city itself. The Episcopal families in New Haven 
reported in 1848 were 680, and the communicants 
831. There are now about 1,250 families, and 2,000 
communicants. The church (St. Paul's) whose rector 
and some of whose influential members doubted at the 
time the expediency of forming this third parish, and 
did not hesitate to express their doubts, planted after- 
wards, under the support and guidance of other coun- 
sels, two mission churches in the outskirts of the city, 
one of which has developed into St. John's parish, 
and the other into the Church of the Ascension. 
Christ Church is the fruit of a mission founded under 
the auspices of Trinity parish in 1854; Grace Church, 
in the Seventh Ward, is of spontaneous growth; and 
with this increase in the number of our congrega- 
tions, and a corresponding increase of ministers, no 
one rector in this city can ever again be called upon 
to officiate at so many baptisms, marriages, and fune- 
rals as did the late Dr. Croswell. 

Changes in the religious bodies outside of us have 
been very perceptible. The Congregationalists have 
added to their societies and houses of worship, but 
not a pastor among them retains the position he held 
when I came here. All have died, resigned, or been 
dismissed. The Methodists have increased in num- 
bers and strength, and found it necessary .to provide 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 223 

more room for their adherents. The Baptists, who 
were broken into two bands twenty-five years ago, 
have come together, and the pastor, whose ministry 
in New Haven antedates my own about two years, is 
over the united congregation, and the house of wor- 
ship which his people formerly occupied has become 
the resting place of a body of Universalists. The 
Baptists have also formed a new society and erected 
lately a somewhat expensive edifice in the western 
part of the city. The Roman Catholics in 1848 had 
but one church, a small wooden building near the 
General Hospital, which was burned down the same 
year. Now they have three large and durable struc- 
tures, filled mainly with devotees who brought their 
faith with them from the old country. The Protest- 
ant foreign element has created a demand for German 
and Lutheran churches, and the Jews, who are every- 
where in the world, have become possessed of one 
large synagogue, and within the past week another 
and smaller one has been opened. 

The progress of the city in the same period has 
been great. The population has trebled, and the 
advance in wealth and public improvements can only 
be measured by going back and comparing the past 
with the present. It must be owned that the Epis- 
copal Church in New Haven has done no more than 
keep pace with the growth of the town. In common 
with other Christian bodies, it has had evils to con- 
tend with which have served to deaden its true life. 
The late civil war, that rocked the nation to its cen- 
tre, not only checked for the time the prosperous 
business of the place, but left here as elsewhere a 



224 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

legacy of sufferings, sorrows, and bereavements. 
Though, in the providence of God, it settled political 
questions forever which had long been perplexing, 
yet out of that momentous struggle has issued a 
brood of uncomputed mischiefs overspreading the 
land, and working injury in various ways to the 
cause of pure and undefiled religion. The greed for 
gain, the spirit of speculation, the extravagances of 
living, consequent upon suddenly acquired wealth; 
the intense worldliness which is confined to no class ; 
the blunted moral sense of public servants, reach- 
ing down from the higher to the lower stations ; the 
awful desecration of the Christian Sabbath, the neglect 
of God's house ; the forgetfulness in families that 
there is a retribution for the infraction of His laws ; 
the sensuality which runs into absolute and direct 
vice ; the latent skepticism of scientists, the misbeliefs 
of men and women, the sneers at virtue, the denials 
of truth ; the cold scorn of the doctrine of the Cross 
of Christ in all its simplicity and soul-dividing power, 
— what are these but hindrances to the work of the 
ministry and the progress of the Church ? 

This is certainly a very important and interesting 
period in which to live. Our lot is cast in an age of 
movement and quickened impulses, and religious 
thought has not the sobriety of former years. It has 
taken on many new and strange aspects, but we are 
not to be dismayed by them, or by what some appear 
to regard as dangers of the gravest character. " God 
is our God for ever and ever." The old truths remain, 
the old promises stand, and it is our wisdom as well 
as our safety to cherish them ; to abide steadfastly and 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 225 

unitedly, as in years gone, by the Church, by that 
which is well known and well approved in faith and 
practice. " Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her 
palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generation fol- 
lowing." 

We cannot expect in such an age to pursue in 
everything the precise steps of our fathers. They 
loved, for example, — because it was the fashion of 
the day, or because they could not build any better, 
— the plain wooden churches of half a century ago, 
with uncomfortable pews and inconvenient chancel 
arrangements; and they sung to the music of the 
flute, the clarionet, and the bass viol, — but he would 
be a churchman of singular tastes and conformation 
who should be willing to go back to these, and give 
up our improved churches and chancels; and the 
sound of the organ which is designed to accompany 
the voice and help the people, — "yea, all the people 
praise Thee, God." What we may, and ought to 
imitate them in is a simplicity of devotion, and a 
reverence and affection for the venerable formularies 
of our faith. We ought to hold fast the treasures we 
have received, and transmit them to " the generations- 
following " as they have come to us, — neither misled 
with the idea that any mortal can think out a new 
Gospel and change the rule of Christian duty, nor 
giving subjection for one hour to minds that would 
bury the truth in doubts or speak disparagingly of 
the teachings of the Church. If in any respect we 
have had opportunities of rising to a better tone of 
religious or church feeling than our fathers, let us be 
thankful, and pray God to bless and keep us in all 

15 



226 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

the ways of truth and righteousness, that our works 
and charities may be perfect and entire, wanting no- 
thing. Let us continue in the things which we have 
learned and been assured of, and let us lift up our 
souls to God, the Holy Ghost, that He may breathe 
over them His renewing; influences. We need Divine 
help as much to enable us to live, as we need it to 
strengthen us to die. The Gospel is for life, not for 
death, — and the more we soar upward to the mercy- 
seat now, the better prepared shall we be to endure 
days of trial, and the firmer and truer will be the 
strength and beauty of our Christian life, — just as the 
forest tree which, while flinging; its trunk and branches 
high towards the heavens, strikes its roots for safety 
and nourishment ever deeper and deeper into the soil 
beneath. 

I have already referred to the changes which death 
and removal make in a congregation during the lapse 
of a quarter of a century. There are others which 
have not been noted, — for among the men and 
women before me to-day are some of the children 
whom I have taken in my arms and crossed in bap- 
tism. They have entered upon those " waves of this 
troublesome world," which we prayed here at the 
font that they might so pass, " being steadfast in 
faith, joyful in hope, and rooted in charity," as finally 
to " come to the land of everlasting life." Not a few 
reached that land before they had learned to know a 
parent's love, and in each of those who have grown 
or are growing up, we begin to read an answer to 
the question which, in spite of us, will sometimes rush 
through the mind when the Christian name is given, 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 227 

— the question which was once asked in fear con- 
cerning the forerunner of Christ, — " What manner 
of child shall this be ? " The pastor who has stood for 
almost a generation in the same place cannot but 
have peculiar solicitude for the young of his flock. 
He would see them in the path of life. He would 
see them all ratifying and renewing their baptismal 
vows in the apostolic rite of confirmation, all coming 
in due time to strengthen and refresh their souls in 
the blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper, because 
he remembers that the hope of the Church for the 
future is in them ; and if they are negligent of reli- 
gious duties and find no pjeasure in piety, how can he 
be without gloomy and sorrowful apprehensions ? 

It is full time to close this discourse, and I will not 
detain you longer than to say, that this hour, with 
all the joy of the Easter festival, is crowded for me 
with strange yet holy memories. Some of them, like 
domestic privacies, are too sacred to be mentioned, 
and others are too personal. What the next twenty- 
five years will be or will produce for the parish, not 
many of us who have passed the meridian of life will 
survive to know. It is morally certain before that 
period closes another rector will stand in my place, 
and while he may be more faithful in some things 
and more diligent in others, he cannot be more self- 
sacrificing than I have been, or more devoted to your 
parochial and spiritual prosperity. I bless God that, 
with rare exceptions, you have not been a people 
with itching ears, and I desire here and now to thank 
you for standing by me and this Church in the days 
of trial, and allowing no slight and unworthy reasons 



228 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

to separate you from our services and take you to 
other Christian homes in the city. I bear in grateful 
remembrance all your kindnesses, your faithfulness in 
critical moments, and your zeal for the good. of your 
fellow-men, and for the honor and glory of God. 
May He have us in His keeping, and may it be our 
blessing to be built up in Him that is true, even in 
His Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 



PRIVILEGE AND DUTY. 

SERMON AT THE RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, 
CHESHIRE, FEBRUARY 24, 1876. 

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy 
mercy : and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. — 
Psalm v. 7. 

It was from this text that Bishop Brownell preached 
one of his most finished and instructive sermons, when 
he consecrated St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, on Satur- 
day the first day of August, 1840. There are some 
here this morning who, like myself, will remember that 
occasion without remembering much that was said, 
— some who can recall the fears, the anxieties, the 
prayers, the self-denials, and the pain of rending old 
historic associations which attended the demolition 
of a venerable wooden edifice, and the erection in its 
place of a neat, more commodious, and substantial 
brick church. I never read and pause in meditation 
over the text, except I find my thoughts running back 
to Cheshire, — first to that service of consecration, 
and then to an incident of personal history which was 
a simple and beautiful commentary on the words of 
the Psalmist. For in the days of my youthful ministry 
here, there lived just over the river, as you call it, an 
aged mother in Israel, 1 whose infirmities detained her 

1 Mrs. Phineas Ives. 



230 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

from the house of God, and whose faith was sorely 
tried in her latest years by the defection of her sons 
from the communion in which they had been born 
and nurtured. It was her invariable custom on Sun- 
days and Christmas to watch the passing hours, and 
when the time for the minister to begin the public 
service had arrived, she opened her cherished prayer- 
book, and, turning her face toward the village church, 
joined with heart and soul in the devotions as though 
bodily present among the worshipers. "But why," 
was the remark once made to her, " do you turn your 
face toward the sanctuary ? " Quick as thought she 
replied, " Oh, you know what David says, ' and in thy 
fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.' " 

Worshiping toward thy holy temple, or, as a mar- 
ginal reading has it in this connection, toward the tem- 
ple of thy holiness, was a custom to which there is 
frequent reference in the Old Testament. Solomon 
makes it prominent in his prayer at the dedication of 
the temple on Mount Zion; and Daniel, in whose affec- 
tions Jerusalem was linked with the worship which 
had descended from earlier ages, when he knew that 
the fatal writing was signed which doomed him to 
destruction in a den of lions, " went into his house ; 
and, his windows being open in his chamber toward 
Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a 
day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as 
he did afore time.' ' 

For the purpose of our discourse, no critical obser- 
vations on the contents or authorship of this Psalm 
need be offered. It is a morning hymn, throughout 
which there breathes a strong feeling that God is 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 231 

pledged by His righteous character to bless and defend 
the upright. Very naturally, we may understand 
David, in the text, to be speaking of the literal struc- 
ture, whether tabernacle or temple, and he had access 
to it because the King of kings, of His grace and good- 
ness, permitted him to draw near, and, having placed 
himself in sharp contrast with the workers of iniquity, 
he drew near with that reverential awe which becomes 
every true worshiper. Bishop Lowth translates, 
"But I, in the abundance of thy mercy, come into 
thy house ; in fear of Thee, I worship at thy holy 
temple," — thus expressing the Hebrew future by the 
present, and indicating not so much the man's design 
as his privilege and his constant practice. 

Without further introduction let me direct your 
special attention : — 

First, to the multitude of your mercies as Christian 
worshipers in these days ; 

And secondly, to the duty of reverence and godly 
fear in the house of the Lord. 

I do not propose by way of comparison to dwell, 
under the first head, on the peculiar restrictions of the 
ancient Jewish religion. There is no one spot now 
which has the promise of extraordinary divine mani- 
festations; there is no holy temple on the mount 
which can be regarded as the presence-chamber of 
the Almighty, where He has fixed His glorious name, 
and where He declares, as of old, that He will receive 
and answer petitions from all places under heaven. 
It is enough to know that the redemptive work of 
Christ was wrought for the whole human family, for 
the Jew and the Gentile, for the bond and the free ; 



232 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and that the Christian Church, with benedictions wide 
as the world, invites her children everywhere to 
pray unto God, who has promised that when two 
or three are gathered together in His name, He will 
grant their requests. 

But what are your privileges to-day, my brethren, 
as Christian worshipers in this land of ours? Not 
many pages of history need be turned back before we 
come to the settlement of New England by a people 
who, with sterling virtues and a mingled spirit of lib- 
erty and adventure, sought to establish a religious sys- 
tem that rejected the use of a Liturgy, and broke the 
chain of holy succession from the martyrs and bish- 
ops of the early Church of England. The creed and 
prayers of our mother in the faith were not heard in 
the rude houses erected by our forefathers for the 
worship of God, and the utmost pains were taken to 
prevent a revival of reverence and affection for the 
old altars among those who could not altogether for- 
get their ancestry and the homes and associations 
which they had left behind. And when, in the order- 
ing of Divine Providence, this revival came, and there 
was a turning here and there to Episcopacy of minis- 
ters and people, what a battle was fought to vindicate 
liberty of conscience, and obtain the sweet boon which 
Mrs. Hemans calls, — 

u Freedom to worship God." 

In the single colony of Connecticut, one hundred 
and fifty years ago, the ground was debated step by 
step, and inch by inch, — the ground which divided 
the Churchman from the Puritan; and jealousies and 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 233 

religious animosities sprang up that often alienated 
families from each other, and disturbed the peace and 
happiness of neighborhoods. Those asperities of feel- 
ing were finally in a measure worn off, the rights con- 
tended for were allowed, and taxes to support the 
Standing Order remitted, and then the Church of 
England in Connecticut, which is ours to-day, began 
to lift her head, and to be recognized as the keeper of 
Holy Writ, and a teacher of "things that become 
sound doctrine." 

Bat still how few were the mercies, how slender 
the privileges, which they possessed who broke away 
from the rules of the prevailing religious body, and 
attached themselves to the venerable communion of 
the home government ! The Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to which " under 
God " we, as a Church, " are indebted for our first 
foundation and a long continuance of nursing care 
and protection," sent missionaries into Connecticut, 
who baptized, preached, and administered the Holy 
Communion in town-houses and private dwellings, 
until little wooden barn-like structures, which were all 
the poverty of the people could provide, rose among 
the hills and valleys, and echoed henceforth with the 
voices of earnest worshipers. One such little edifice 
was erected on this spot in 1760, and then as time went 
on, and the flock of the wandering shepherd grew, it 
was succeeded by another of increased dimensions, and 
again it was enlarged, and the place and the parish 
made more important by the establishment here, 
under the auspices of the first Bishop of Connecticut, 
of the first diocesan school of our Church in this 
country. 



234 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

I sometimes in my own mind compare the privi- 
leges of Christian worshipers a century or even half 
a century ago with those enjoyed by all classes of 
people in these luxurious and extravagant times. A 
mother, walking to the house of God and carrying in 
her arms an infant to be baptized, or both parents 
mounted upon a horse, the father holding before him 
the child, and the mother behind upon a pillion, the 
comfortless condition of the sanctuary, the naked floor, 
the bare seats, the unplastered ceilings and sides, the 
absence of all conveniences for the officiating minister 
and for the rubrical rendering of divine service, the 
high pulpit and the high breast-work in front for a 
prayer-desk, the sonorous pitch-pipe to elevate the 
key of the tune, or at best the bass-viol and clarionet 
to accompany the singers, — how all these things 
appear to us in a day of convenient and handsome 
land carriages, of costly churches, warmed, cushioned, 
carpeted, and richly decorated, of spacious chancels, 
and adjoining vestry-rooms, of pealing organs, and 
cultivated choirs! 

It is a good place to mention now that it was in 
this parish that early, if not the earliest, steps in Con- 
necticut were taken to introduce the practice of 
chanting and singing of anthems, — steps which were 
met elsewhere at first with strong and very decided 
objections. Under the guidance of the rector, 1 whose 



1 Rev. Reuben Ives. He was a native of Cheshire, and married 
Susannah Anna Maria, a daughter of the Rev. John R. Marshall of 
Woodbury, on Sunday, January 25, 1789, four days after the death of 
her father. The old parsonage, once occupied by Mr. Marshall, and 
where ten of the clergy of Connecticut met on the 25th of March, 1783, 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 235 

graceful memorial lias been erected here to remind 
you of his fidelity and long-continued service, the 
young of the congregation were collected and trained 
in this species of sacred music ; and soon the parts 
prescribed in the Prayer Book to be " said or sung," 
the anthems and doxologies, were loved as much, 
when musically rendered, as the metrical psalms and 
hymns. 

But I must carry you on to other thoughts and 
contemplations. How little did the good prelate, to 
whose consecration sermon allusion has been made, 
foresee the great changes and improvements that 
would come to this church and place in the lapse of 
a single generation ! Twelve years ago, when I had 
been away from you about that length of time, in 
another field of labor, it was my privilege to return 
and preach the sermon at the re-opening of this build- 
ing, beautified then by an added chancel, a memorial 
window, an enriched ceiling, and various inner adorn- 

and selected a fit person for the Episcopal office, is still standing, — an 
interesting historic relic of the last century. 

It may be added that Dr. George Grub, in his Ecclesiastical History of 
Scotland, vol. iv. p. 99, thus speaks of the spot where the first Bishop of 
Connecticut was consecrated : — 

" Dr. Seabury was consecrated in the upper room of a house in Long- 
acre, Aberdeen, which, according to the exigencies of that time, was used 
partly as a chapel, partly as the residence of Bishop Skinner, and on the 
site of which a chapel, now [1870] occupied by the Wesley ans, was 
built in 1795." 

In a letter to the author, dated August 5, 1875, Dr. Grub says: " The 
Methodist chapel in Longacre is not now used for any religious purpose 
whatever, having been sold recently by the Wesleyans on erecting a new 
chapel. The building on the site of the Methodist chapel, where Sea- 
bury's consecration took place, was built by Bishop John Skinner as a 
dwelling house for himself and a place of meeting for his congregation. 
Neither it, nor its successor on the same site, was ever consecrated." 



236 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ments and improvements. And now I am here 
again to mark the gratifying tokens of life and ad- 
vancement, and to find the second temple so exceed- 
ing in glory the first that one can hardly comprehend 
that he stands on the old spot and is surrounded by 
the old associations. The whole interior, the enlarged 
space, the new arrangements of nave, the comfortable 
sittings, the more elegant means of lighting for even- 
ing services, the modest, yet becoming tributes of 
respect and affection as shown in the memorial win- 
dows, — all are proofs that the rector has been ener- 
getic and had a mind to work, and that God has put 
it into the hearts of the people and of kind friends to 
work also. 

As intimately connected with the relations and 
prosperity of the parish it should not be forgotten 
that our diocesan institution — the " Episcopal Acad- 
emy" — has passed under the diligent hand of im- 
provement. There was no Bronson or Horton Hall 
twelve years ago, and much cause have we for grati- 
tude that both of these have come to us in such 
admirable forms, and that the fire which burned the 
pile of wooden buildings did not consume the zeal of 
the principal, or deter him from moving on in the 
great work of Christian education. With all its 
attendant solicitudes, there was a " multitude of mer- 
cies " to be thankful for in that conflagration. 1 

1 On the morning of September 25, 1873, the large boarding-house 
constructed of wood, with the buildings attached, was destroyed by fire, 
the pupils and inmates escaping unhurt and much of the furniture and 
valuables being saved. It was immediately replaced with a new and 
handsome edifice of brick, and named, by the trustees of the institution- 
Horton Hall. It has all the modern improvements, and is not only com- 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 237 

But it is time to proceed to the second topic pro- 
posed, namely, the duty of reverence and godly fear 
in the house of the Lord. 

Hooker says, " The very majesty and holiness of 
the place where God is worshiped hath in regard of 
us great virtue, force, and efficacy, for that it serveth 
as a sensible help to stir up devotion, and, in that 
respect, no doubt bettereth even our holiest and best 
actions in this kind." * Consecration signifies the set- 
ting apart or devoting of anything to God, and a 
building erected by human instruments with human 
hands is thus offered to his service, and henceforth it 
is His and His only. It is dedicated to His worship 
and to all the uses and offices of religion : it is for 
Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, for Catechising 
and Confirmation, for the Solemnization of Matrimony 
and the Burial of the Dead ; for reading the Word 
and instruction in the same ; and especially, because 
most commonly, for the oblation of prayer and praise, 
of confession, of thanksgiving, and of supplication. 
For whatever public use a ministry in the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church is designed, to that use 
this house of God is forever set apart, and it cannot 
be appropriated to any secular or alien purposes 
without violating the trust committed in good faith 

plete in its arrangements, but fitted for the accommodation of a large 
number of pupils. 

Bronson Hall was erected in 1867, a former student of the academy 
— Mr. H. N. Slater, of Rhode Island — giving $5,000 towards it, and an 
equal sum being contributed by friends and churchmen in Connecticut. 
It contains the chapel, which has been duly set apart for religious 
services. 

1 Complete Works, American ed., vol. i. p. 314. 



238 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

to the hands of its present guardians, and through 
them to the stewardship of succeeding generations. 
How becoming therefore are reverence and godly 
fear in this place, and how careful should you be to 
enter it in a spirit of worship, and to hallow it by 
close communion with God and deep self-abasement ! 
Our customs and forms of devotion are not meaning- 
less. In the ancient worship of the temple, we learn 
in Scripture that there was order ; there were great 
splendor and much sacred pomp ; there was abun- 
dance of music ; there was kneeling in prayer, partic- 
ularly of the more earnest kind ; there was standing 
in praise, and every dignified ceremony that could 
aid the mind by outward association. This was the 
public worship that came under the eye of God's 
inspired psalmists and prophets, and it w T as this that 
our Saviour attended, always giving it his entire coun- 
tenance, and not requiring his disciples to abandon 
it, so that for many years after his ascension into 
heaven the apostles and Jewish Christians continued 
to frequent the courts of the Lord on Mount Zion. 
The worship of Christian churches was, to a great 
extent, modeled by their apostolic founders on those 
parts of the temple service which were not abolished ; 
and we have therefore what is tantamount to divine 
authority for the essential features of a Liturgy, of 
a prepared worship, of reasonable and edifying cere- 
monies, and of bodily homage. Soundness in doc- 
trine requires that we " take with us words w T hen 
we approach the Lord." The argument of ignorant 
enthusiasm, that precomposed forms as to the subjects 
for prayer and the expressions to be used, prevent 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 239 

the heart from being moved by the Holy Spirit, is 
unworthy of a moment's consideration. God forbade 
of old the minutest blemish in an animal sacrifice, and 
it is equally proper that we guard against any fault 
or imperfection in the sacrifices of our lips. Both the 
affection of the soul, and the language in which it is 
offered up, should be as worthy as man can render 
them of that great and perfect Being whom they are 
intended to honor. Use the forms rightly, my breth- 
ren, and reverence and godly fear in the house of 
the Lord will surely follow. Formality is produced 
by the weakness or depravity of our nature, making 
us laggard, reluctant, inattentive in religious duties, 
yet satisfied when they have been thus heartlessly 
performed. To guard against this is one of the prime 
objects of a true worshiper; and the place rich in 
associations the best fitted to raise and purify his 
thoughts and to give life and energy to his prayers, 
he will be careful never to desecrate by frivolous con- 
versation and worldly amusement and vanity. u The 
Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep si- 
lence before Him," — silence, as to the distracting cares 
of business and the calls of pleasure ; and let the wor- 
shiper here be impressed with sacred awe, in view 
of the majestic truth that " the high and lofty One 
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," deigns 
to " dwell with him also that is of a contrite and 
humble spirit." A recognition of the place as some- 
thing more than an ordinary secular edifice — how 
impressive it is ! The stranger unaccustomed to our 
services has been struck with the manner of the 
devout Christian, entering the sanctuary and kneel- 



240 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ing for a few moments in silence as he reaches his 
seat, to say to himself, " Let the words of my mouth, 
and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy 
sight, Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer ! " and 
when all has closed for that time, when the last notes 
of the pealing organ, with the voices of the singers, 
have died away, and the benediction of the pastor is 
lingering in echoes along the aisles and arches, how 
beautiful, how becoming is the momentary stillness of 
the great congregation, bowing as one man to offer 
their secret prayers for a blessing on the preached 
word, and for the pardon of any imperfection in the 
day's services ! 

But I must not detain you longer with these or 
other thoughts that might be uttered on this occasion. 
It need not be repeated, my brethren, that you have 
manifold privileges for which to be grateful. God in 
His Providence has brought you to this hour, and 
given you the mind and the means to adore Him for 
His love, and to honor Him with " good deeds done 
for His house and for the offices thereof." It is not 
the unmeaning word of flattery to say : You have a 
beautiful church ; you have made it attractive to the 
outward eye ; you have supplied it with everything 
calculated to render public worship uplifting and 
holy ; and now let me entreat you to press to its 
portals : — 

11 Oh! gather whenceso'er ye safely may 

The help which slackening piety requires, 
Nor deem that he perforce must go astray, 
Who treads upon the footmarks of his sires." 

Be not disposed to lean too much upon him who 



RE-CONSECRATION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 241 

is over you in the Lord for prosperity as a parish, or 
for advancement in the spiritual life. In the great 
work of gathering in the nations and fixing the reli- 
gion of Jesus Christ in the households and hearts of 
men, the Almighty makes use, not of lofty angels who 
have kept their first estate, but of the fallen and the 
feeble, who are themselves in perils, — themselves 
but wrestlers for immortality. The treasure of the 
ministry we know is in earthen vessels. It is subject 
to decay and liable to removal, but the Church abides, 
and the great Head of the Church continues to be in 
all places her sure support and comfort. Since the 
foundation of this parish, there has been but one rector 
whose term of office in it extended above thirty 
years, and that was Eeuben Ives. In looking over 
lately the list of clergy in Connecticut, I was sur- 
prised to find how few have been in their parishes 
years enough to be able to present for confirmation 
the youth whom, as infants, they took in their arms 
and crossed in baptism. 

My brethren, God speaks to us both through circum- 
stances and in the sanctuary of conscience with equal 
clearness. Hear Him now and always. For the day 
approaches when you must u cease from good works " 
and leave to your children the heritage of your 
responsibilities. May your life temporal be followed 
by the life eternal. Grant it, God of our salvation, for 
thy mercy's sake in Jesus Christ : and to Thee, Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, let there be ascribed as most 
justly due all praise, might, majesty, glory, and do- 
minion, henceforth and forevermore. Amen. 

16 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 

FROM THE "CHURCH REVIEW," OCTOBER, 1881. 

A romantic interest attaches to the name of this 
great man. The history of his sojourn in America is 
becoming better known, and the purity and sublimity 
of his motives in the enterprise which he projected 
are now more highly appreciated. 

The new life of him 1 by Professor Fraser of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh contains some interesting facts 
not to be found in his larger work, first issued from 
the Clarendon Press ten years ago. 2 His father, 
William Berkeley, an Irishman by birth and an Eng- 
lishman by descent, is said to have occupied a cottage 
adjoining the ancient Castle of Dysert, in the County 
of Kilkenny; but no particulars of his lineage, and 
very few of the boyhood and early education of his 
philosophical son, who was the eldest of six brothers, 
can now be gathered. George was for four years a 
pupil in the Kilkenny school, noted for its learned 
masters, and had among his companions Thomas Prior, 
the philanthropist, who continued without interrup- 

1 Berkeley, by A. Campbell Fraser, LL.D., Professor of Logic and 
Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. William Blackwood & 
Sons. 1881. 

2 Life and Letters of George Berkeley, D.D., formerly Bishop of Cloyne ; 
and an account of his Philosophy, etc. By Alexander Campbell Fraser, 
M. A. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 8vo. 1871. 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 243 

tion to be his friend and correspondent for a half 
century. 

Kilkenny was a picturesque region, watered by the 
river Nore, and he left it in March, 1700, when he 
was fifteen years of age, to matriculate at Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin. Here he passed the next thirteen years 
of his life, and was busy in the preparation of works 
which laid the foundation of his future fame. He was 
made Bachelor of Arts in 1704, and took his Master's 
degree in 1707, being admitted in this same year to 
a junior fellowship. He discharged the duties of a 
tutor, Greek lecturer, and junior dean, and whether 
it entered into the design of his friends in educating 
him at the University that he should pursue theolog- 
ical studies does not appear. But on the first of Feb- 
ruary, 1709, with six other candidates, he was or- 
dained a deacon by Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, in the 
old chapel of Trinity College. He took no parochial 
charge, but remained at the University, and limited his 
ministerial service to occasional sermons on subjects 
connected with his moral and philosophical studies. 
"As a preacher," says his biographer, " his discourses 
were carefully reasoned, and in beautifully simple lan- 
guage they occasionally present great thoughts with- 
out any marked theological bias." 

During his residence at the University, Berkeley 
was brought in contact with men of distinguished 
culture and noted philosophical genius. The head of 
the institution, Dr. Peter Browne, afterwards Bishop 
of Cork, was a vigorous antagonist of the free-thinking 
Toland, and examined critically the celebrated "Essay 
on the Human Understanding," by John Locke, a work 



244 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

introduced in the course of study at the university, 
and well known to philosophical readers in the under- 
graduate days of Berkeley. William King, translated 
from the See of Derry to Dublin in 1702, and made 
Archbishop, was another eminent inquirer into spec- 
ulative science and the laws of thought, and became 
famous as the author of the treatise entitled " De Ori- 
gine Mali," which was sharply controverted by the 
pens of Bayne and Leibnitz. Surrounded by these 
and other intellectual lights, it was no wonder that 
Berkeley lingered in Dublin and nurtured his ideal 
philosophy. His first publication with his name af- 
fixed appeared in 1709, and was modestly entitled 
a An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision." " It 
was an attempt," says Professor Fraser, " towards the 
psychology of our sensations, but directed immediately 
to the most comprehensive sense of all, and intended 
to eradicate a deep-rooted prejudice. If it halts in 
its metaphysics, and if its physiology is defective, it 
proclaims in psychology what has since been accepted 
as a great discovery, which involves subtle applica- 
tions of the laws of mental association in the formation 
of habits." 

A second edition of it was issued before the end of 
the year, which was shortly followed by a " Treatise 
Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge;" 
and Berkeley, anxious to make his discoveries known, 
and not satisfied with the provincial audience of Ire- 
land, courted the opinion of the great thinking men in 
London, and sent copies of his latest work to several 
of them, in the hope that it might draw forth their 
criticism, if not their approval. It was not a time when 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 245 

subjects of this nature were discussed in literary peri- 
odicals as now, and hence in putting forth his bold 
speculations, and inviting the philosophical world to 
new conceptions of the substance of matter, he had no 
other way of getting at the opinion of men than by 
private correspondence and the intervention of per- 
sonal friends. He deprecated the idea of being con- 
founded with the skeptics who doubt the existence of 
sensible things ; and writing to Sir John Percival in 
1710, he said, with a keen foresight of objections that 
might be raised : " If it shall at any time be in your 
way to discourse your friends on the subject of my 
book, I entreat you not to take notice to them that I 
deny the being of Matter in it, but only that it is a 
treatise on the principles of human knowledge, de- 
signed to promote true knowledge and religion, par- 
ticularly in opposition to those philosophers who vent 
dangerous notions with regard to the existence of 
God and the natural immortality of the soul, both 
which I have endeavored to demonstrate in a way not 
hitherto made use of." 

Berkeley was disappointed at the reception of his 
work by the highest English authority in metaphysics 
then living — Dr. Samuel Clarke — and by William 
Whiston, as noted afterwards for his religious heresies 
as at that time for his mathematical genius, — each 
of whom he had complimented with a copy. He 
would have gladly drawn them into a correspondence 
or dispute with him, but they declined, especially 
Clarke, who though not appearing to believe his con- 
clusions, was yet reluctant to write out his thoughts 
and " shock any one whose opinion on things of this 



j 



246 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

nature differed from his own." Feeling that he had 
been misunderstood, and annoyed by objections to 
the theory of immaterialism which had reached him 
through his friends, he began, not long after the pub- 
lication of the " Treatise on Human Knowledge," to 
prepare a volume entitled " Dialogues between Hylas 
and Philonous, the Design of which is plainly to de- 
monstrate the Reality and Perfection of Human Know- 
ledge, the Incorporeal Nature of the Soul, and the 
Immediate Providence of a Deity, in Opposition to 
Skeptics and Atheists." 

In the beginning of the year 1713 Berkeley took 
his departure from Dublin, and appeared in London, 
where his "Dialogues" were published the ensuing 
summer. This was a new intellectual world to him, 
and brought him into association with some of the 
distinguished wits of the age of Queen Anne. Rich- 
ard Steele and Dean Swift, both countrymen of his, 
welcomed him to the metropolis, and sought oppor- 
tunities to introduce him into the society of their lit- 
erary friends. Swift presented him at court to Lord 
Berkeley, for whom he had been private chaplain and 
secretary, and in doing so he is said to have used 
these characteristic words : " My Lord, here is a young 
gentleman of your family. I can assure your lordship 
it is a much greater honor to you to be related to 
him than to him to be related to you." 

He w 7 as brought in contact with Anthony Collins, 
and heard him announce at one of the infidel clubs 
that he was able to demonstrate the impossibility of 
the existence of God, — a strange announcement, 
which Berkeley, who was there as an observer, subse- 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 247 

quently controverted when he was writing satirical 
essays against the free-thinkers in Steele's new paper, 
called the " Guardian." Pope and Addison were 
among his London acquaintances, and the circle of wits 
and politicians who mingled freely together at that 
time was widened by other names, which hold a con- 
spicuous place in the history of English literature. 
Addison arranged for a meeting between him and 
Samuel Clarke, the metaphysical divine whom he had 
in vain tried three years before, through Sir John 
Percival, to draw forth into a refutation of his argu- 
ments, or rather into a statement of the objections 
which might be raised to his "Treatise on Human 
Knowledge." The issue of the meeting was unsatis- 
factory, and the Berkeleyan philosophy appeared to 
be becoming more and more a subject of ridicule with 
some of the London wits. What he could not gain, 
however, for his idealism he readily gained for himself, 
— a favorable reception among those who formed his 
acquaintance. He had a magnetism about him which 
few were able to resist. The kindness of his heart 
and the fascination of his manner were indescribable. 
When Lord Berkeley introduced him to Francis Atter- 
bury, and after the interview asked the bishop, " Does 
my cousin answer your expectations ? ' Atterbury 
lifted up his hands in astonishment and said, "So much 
understanding, so much knowledge, so much inno- 
cence, and such humility I did not think had been the 
portion of any but angels till I saw this gentleman." 

Through Swift he was probably made known to 
Mrs. Vanhomrigh and her daughter, the famous and 
unhappy Vanessa, who were settled in their house in 



248 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Bury Street, near the lodgings of the eccentric dean, 
and where the romance commenced which ended in 
a material improvement of the fortunes of Berkeley. 
It does not appear that he took him to see the ladies, 
at whose residence, as he wrote to Stella, he himself 
" loitered hot and lazy after his morning's work/' and 
frequently dined " out of mere listlessness." He could 
only have mentioned his name to them as a man of 
remarkable wisdom and power. 

The spring and the summer had passed away, and 
his leave of absence from the university had expired, 
when the Earl of Peterborough, then one of the most 
illustrious characters in Europe, was appointed Am- 
bassador Extraordinary to the King of Sicily, and 
offered to Berkeley the place of private chaplain and 
secretary. He gladly accepted it, and a dispensation, 
which was necessary for a longer absence from Dub- 
lin, was granted by the crown for leave to travel and 
live abroad two years without forfeiting any rights 
and advantages belonging to his fellowship. His first 
letter from the Continent was dated November 25, 
1713, and addressed to his Kilkenny friend, Thomas 
Prior. But the mission was suddenly terminated by 
the death of Queen Anne, on the 1st of August, 1714, 
— an event which changed the whole aspect of politi- 
cal affairs in England, and led to the dissolution of the 
Tory ministry and the recall of the Earl of Peter- 
borough. It destroyed, too, all chance of Berkeley's 
preferment in the Church through his lordship or 
Swift, and he returned to London and spent the next 
two years in the metropolis, " with congenial retreats 
now and then into the soft scenes of the midland and 
southern counties." 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 249 

Late in the autumn of 1716, he was again on his 
way to Italy, — this time in the capacity of a travel- 
ing tutor to the son of Dr. Ashe, the Bishop of Clogher, 
by whom nine years before he had been admitted to 
holy orders. He now, to some extent, suspended 
the pursuit of philosophical studies and turned his 
thoughts to Italian scenery, — to medals and statues, 
pictures and architecture, which everywhere met his 
view. His biographer says : " He was particularly in- 
terested in Sicily, and collected materials for a natural 
history of the island, which were lost with other manu- 
scripts on the passage to Naples." After an absence 
of almost a lustrum he returned to England, and if he 
set out on his travels immediately after the issue of 
his three " Dialogues on the Nature of the Material 
World," he ended them with the publication of a Latin 
dissertation, " De Motu," which he finished at Lyons, 
on his way home from Italy, and which may have 
been directly prompted by the proposal of the French 
Eoyal Academy of a prize for the best essay on the 
" Cause of Motion," — a subject suited to the taste of 
Berkeley, and exactly in the line of his early specula- 
tions. Whether it was presented to the Academy is 
not known, but it is certain the prize was given to 
another. 

On reaching London he found the nation plunged 
into the confusion and distress that followed the burst- 
ing of the South Sea bubble, — a wild commercial 
scheme which excited the most surprising expecta- 
tions of a secular millennium, and was indirectly in- 
dorsed by both Houses of Parliament against the 
solemn remonstrances of Walpole. " He now threw 



250 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

himself," says Professor Fraser, " with his usual im- 
petuosity, but with a direct practical purpose,, into the 
social and economical difficulties of the time, and the 
condition of England became his dominant interest. 
He was shocked by the prevailing tone of social 
morals. He seemed to see himself living in a gene- 
ration averse to all lofty ideals, with whom the extreme 
of prudential secularism had superseded the fanatical 
spiritualism of the preceding age. He was in collision 
with the bad elements of the eighteenth century. A 
commercial crisis had brought them out, and this was 
then a novelty." He wrote an " Essay towards Pre- 
venting the Ruin of Great Britain/' which was pub- 
lished in 1721, and gave in it the first intimations of 
his longing for a state of society nearer that pure ideal 
which afterwards intermingled so largely with what 
he thought and attempted. Some changes among 
his London acquaintances had taken place during his 
absence. Atterbury, as Dean of Westminster, in his 
prelate's robes, had officiated at the burial of Addison 
in the Chapel of Henry VII. ; Swift was in Dublin, 
and Steele, with broken health and impaired fortune, 
had retired to his country-seat near Caermarthon in 
Wales. But Pope was in Twickenham, and invited 
him to his residence. Clarke was still attracting 
attention by discoursing on philosophical theology in 
St. James's, Westminster, and Sherlock and Butler 
were both rising to higher and more honorable posi- 
tions in the Church. 

In the autumn of 1721 he was back at his old aca- 
demic home in Trinity College, after having been 
away from Ireland for a period of more than eight 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 251 

years. " I had no sooner set foot on shore," he wrote 
to Lord Percival, " than I heard that the Deanery of 
Dromore was vacant, with <£500 a year and a sine- 
cure, — a circumstance that recommends it to me 
beyond any preferment in the kingdom, though there 
are some deaneries of twice that value." Through the 
influence of friends his patent for its possession passed 
the great seal in February, but the bishop of the dio- 
cese claimed the right of nomination, and a lawsuit 
ensued, in which Berkeley engaged with small chance 
of winning his case, — employing "eight lawyers," and 
going to London to inform himself on some legal points 
not well understood in Ireland. The suit dragged its 
slow length along, and was still undecided in May, 
1724, when by the good offices of Lady Percival he 
was presented with a more valuable living than Dro- 
more. " Yesterday," he said, writing under that date 
to a friend, " I received my patent for the best dean- 
ery in this kingdom, that of Derry. It is said to be 
worth £1,500 per annum, but I do not consider it 
with a view to enriching myself. I shall be perfectly 
contented if it facilitates and recommends my scheme 
of Bermuda." 

The " scheme of Bermuda " had taken shape in his 
mind two years before, and was nothing less than a 
plan to found a college in some convenient part of 
the West Indies, where English youth of the planta- 
tions might be educated to supply their churches with 
pastors of good morals and good learning, and where 
a " number of young American savages might also be 
educated till they had taken the degree of Master of 
Arts." He put his thoughts upon this scheme with 



252 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

wonderful intensity, and turned every personal ad- 
vantage in the channel of its support. It set him 
above soliciting with earnestness any preferment in 
Great Britain. Shortly prior to being made Dean of 
Derry, a curious piece of good fortune befell him in 
an unexpected way. 

After the death of her mother in 1717, Hester Van- 
homrigh, the unhappy Vanessa of Swift, settled upon 
her estate at Marley Abbey, ten miles from Dublin, 
and discovering that the dean had disappointed her 
and privately married Stella, she revoked the will 
which made him her heir, and dying broken-hearted 
in May, 1723, left her property to be divided between 
Berkeley and a gentleman who afterwards became an 
Irish judge. This was a new stimulant to the Ber- 
muda enterprise, and providentially relieved him of 
any pecuniary anxiety. He wrote to Lord Percival a 
few days after learning of the bequest : " Here is 
something that will surprise your lordship, as it doth 
me. Mrs. Hester Vanhomrigh, a lady to whom I .was 
a perfect stranger, having never in the whole course 
of my life exchanged a word with her, died on Sun- 
day night. Yesterday her will was opened, by which 
it appears that I am constituted executor, the advan- 
tage whereof is computed by those who understand 
her affairs to be worth £3,000 ; if a suit she had be 
carried it will be considerably more." 

With the deanery of Derry which, as before shown, 
came the next year, he was now prepared to urge his 
favorite scheme, and went to London to solicit sub- 
scriptions, and the protection and patronage of the 
government. Swift recommended him to Lord Car- 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 253 

teret, who was soon to become Lord Lieutenant of 
Ireland, in a characteristic letter which thus describes 
the zeal and purpose of Berkeley : " He is an absolute 
philosopher with regard to money, titles, and power ; 
and for three years past he has been struck with a no- 
tion of founding a University at Bermuda by a charter 
from the Crown. He has seduced several of the hope- 
fulest young Clergymen and others here, many of them 
well-provided for, and all in the fairest way of pre- 
ferment; but in England his conquests are greater, 
and I doubt will spread very far this winter. He 
showed me a little tract which he designs to publish, 
and there your Excellency will see his whole scheme 
of a life, academico-philosophical (I shall make you 
remember what you were) of a college founded for 
Indian scholars and missionaries, where he most exor- 
bitantly proposes a whole hundred pounds a year for 
himself, forty pounds for a Fellow, and ten for a 
Student. His heart will break if his Deanery be not 
taken from him and left to your Excellency's disposal. 
I discouraged him by the coldness of courts, and min- 
isters who will interpret all this as impossible and a 
vision ; but nothing will do. And, therefore, I hum- 
bly entreat your Excellency either to use such per- 
suasions as will keep one of the first men in the king- 
dom for learning and virtue, quiet at home, or assist 
him by your credit to compass his romantic design." 
Berkeley was eminently successful in presenting his 
scheme in London, and winning for it favor from all 
classes of persons. The members of the Scriblerus 
Club, with whom he dined one day at the house of 
a friend, agreed among themselves to have a little 



254 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

sport at his expense about Bermuda ; but finally, after 
listening to the many witty things which had been 
said, he asked to be heard in his turn, and " displayed 
his plan with such an astonishing and amazing force 
of eloquence and enthusiasm that they were struck 
dumb, and after some pause, rose up all together with 
earnestness exclaiming, ' Let us set out with him im- 
mediately.' : Bolingbroke wrote to Swift that he 
would " gladly exchange Europe for its charms, only 
not in a Missionary capacity." 

The subscriptions went up to <£5,000, including one 
from Sir Robert Walpole himself, then the Prime Min- 
ister, but, not satisfied with these, he sought a royal 
charter and a grant of £20,000 to endow the col- 
lege, which George I. had encouraged him to believe 
might be allowed out of the moneys to come from 
ceding St. Kitts to the British government according 
to the Treaty of Utrecht. Berkeley is said to have 
canvassed every member of both Houses of Parlia- 
ment to secure his object, and when the vote was car- 
ried in the House of Commons, May, 1726, only two 
voices were heard in the negative. Walpole did not 
oppose the bill, but secretly hoped that it would be 
rejected, and on being remonstrated with after its 
passage for allowing such a proposition from the 
Crown, he replied with sarcastic severity : " Who 
would have thought that anything for promoting re- 
ligion or learning could have passed a British Par- 
liament ! " 

He had now been in London from September, 
1724, urging his Bermuda scheme and attending the 
court of Queen Caroline, " not," he says, " because he 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 255 

loved courts, but because he loved America." It was 
in this period that he engaged in theological and po- 
litical discussion, and met for this purpose among 
others such master minds as Clarke, Sherlock, and 
Hoadly. We are told that " he was idolized in Eng- 
land before he set off for America. He used to go to 
St. James's two days a week to dispute with Dr. Sam- 
uel Clarke before Queen Caroline, then Princess of 
Wales, and had a magnificent gold medal presented to 
him by George II. ; but he complained of the drudgery 
of taking part in these useless disputes." 

On the 4th of September, 1728, in the forty-fourth 
year of his age, he sailed down the River Thames in 
a " hired ship of two hundred and fifty tons," full of 
glowing hopes and eager to begin, as Sir James Mac- 
intosh termed it, " a work of heroic, or rather God-like, 
benevolence." This is his own account of the embark- 
ation in a letter to Lord Percival, written September 
3 : " To-morrow we sail down the river. Mr. James 
and Mr. Dal ton go with me, so doth my wife, a daugh- 
ter of the late Chief Justice Foster, whom I married 
since I saw your lordship. I chose her for her quali- 
ties of mind, and her unaffected inclination to books. 
She goes with great thankfulness to live a plain farm- 
er's life, and wear stuff of her own spinning. I have 
presented her with a spinning-wheel. Her fortune 
was .£2,000 originally, but traveling and exchange 
have reduced it to less than £1,500, English money. 
I have placed that and about £600 of my own in 
South Sea annuities." 

After being tossed on the ocean for a long time, 
and touching at Virginia by the way, the vessel arrived 



256 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

at Newport, Ehode Island, near the end of January, 
1729, and Berkeley was as much surprised at the 
sight of the town and harbor as the people of Newport 
were surprised at the appearance among them of so 
great a dignitary of the Church of England. He was 
received with demonstrations of high respect, and 
ushered into the place by a number of gentlemen " to 
whom he behaved himself after a very complaisant 
manner." He was charmed with w r hat he saw. The 
grand ocean scenery, the delightful breezes, and the 
gorgeous sunsets filled him with admiration, and he 
would have been glad to fix the college here rather 
than in Bermuda, but the consent of the Crown must 
be given to any change, and he must receive the royal 
grant before he could proceed further in the enterprise 
for which he left his country. In the summer suc- 
ceeding his arrival he purchased a farm of about one 
hundred acres in a sequestered spot, under a hill which 
commands a wide view of sea and land, and built a 
house, still standing, which in a loyal spirit he named 
Whitehall to keep up his remembrance of the palace 
of the British kings. The farm, as he said in a letter 
to Thomas Prior, " is fit for cows and sheep, and may 
be of good use for supporting our college at Bermuda." 
It adjoined one of about the same extent belonging 
to the Rev. Mr. Honyman, on which he resided. 
The friends with whom he had crossed the ocean 
fixed their abode in Boston, but he preferred the quiet 
of his new home, and while waiting for the govern- 
ment grant, the rocks that skirt the shore and the 
neighboring groves afforded the silence and solitude 
so well suited to his philosophic meditations. " After 



L> 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 257 

my long fatigue this retirement/' he wrote Lord Per- 
cival, " is very agreeable to me, and my wife loves a 
country life and books, as well as to pass her time 
continually and cheerfully without any other conver- 
sation than her husband and the dead." 

The society of Newport at that time was composed 
of gentry, lawyers, physicians, and merchants, who re- 
tained very many of the customs and manners of the 
old world, and Berkeley mixed with them, preached 
often in the Episcopal Church for Mr. Honyman the 
rector, and drew " a strange medley of different per- 
suasions " to hear his logical and eloquent discourses. 
He had time to think over his movements and mis- 
takes, and to use a great deal of philosophy while 
Walpole was withholding the government aid, and 
giving no intimation of his ultimate intention to 
defeat the Bermuda scheme. The prospect, which 
was not altogether clear when he left England, grew 
darker after his arrival in Newport. He had run the 
risk of a tedious winter voyage to convince the w T orld 
that he was in earnest, but the suspense in which he 
was now held was something he had not anticipated. 
" The truth is," he wrote Lord Percival in June, 1729, 
" I am not in my own power, not being at liberty to 
act without the concurrence as well of the Ministry 
as of my associates. I cannot, therefore, place the 
College where I please, and though on some accounts 
I did, and do still, think it would more probably be 
attended with success if placed here rather than in 
Bermuda, yet if the Government and those engaged 
with me should persist in the old scheme, I am ready 

17 



258 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

to go thither, and will do so as soon as I hear the 
money is received and my associates arrived." 

The beautiful vision which he had hoped to realize 
was now fast melting away, and in Whitehall, where 
he had begun domestic life, a son was born to him, 
whom the father baptized in Trinity Church, Septem- 
ber 1, 1729. Letters from England reached him 
irregularly and after many delays ; one from Thomas 
Prior was six months on its passage. But the crisis of 
his scheme at last came when Sir Robert Walpole, in 
an interview with the Bishop of London, held for the 
purpose of getting definite information about the 
grant, said : " If you put this question to me as a Min- 
ister, I must and can assure you that the money shall 
most undoubtedly be paid as soon as suits with public 
convenience ; but if you ask me as a friend whether 
Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expect- 
ing the payment of .£20,000, I advise him, by all 
means, to return home to Europe, and to give up his 
present expectations." 

This was the treacherous blow which felled to the 
dust the hopes of Berkeley. It left him no alterna- 
tive but to make speedy preparations for terminating 
his stay in this country. He had not been idle dur- 
ing his recluse life at Newport. Men who had studied 
his philosophy and imbibed his principles formed his 
personal acquaintance, and sympathized with him in 
his benevolent enterprise. 

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, a missionary of the 
Church of England in Stratford, Connecticut, distin- 
guished for his theological attainments and philosoph- 
ical investigations, weighed his works with singular 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 259 

care before his arrival in America, and became so 
much interested in them, and so much of a convert 
to his system, that he opened a correspondence with 
Berkeley and visited him at Whitehall, where not 
only great metaphysical questions were discussed, but 
other subjects considered, bearing on Christian edu- 
cation and on the way to do something as a partial 
remedy for the failure of the Bermuda scheme. John- 
son had been a tutor in Yale College, and an impor- 
tant one, but he retired from that office in 1719, and, 
devoting himself to the study of theology, was or- 
dained the next year a Congregational minister and 
appointed to officiate for a little flock in the vicinity 
of New Haven. His inquisitive mind led him to read 
the books on the shelves of the well-selected library 
of the college, and to examine most thoroughly the 
doctrines and usages of the Primitive Church as com- 
pared with the Presbyterian system ; and the result 
was that he and the head of the institution and one 
of its tutors relinquished their positions and crossed 
the ocean to obtain holy orders in the Church of Eng- 
land. He had been settled in Stratford more than 
five years when Berkeley landed at Newport, and 
though a strong churchman he had not ceased to be 
interested in Yale College and to cultivate a friendly 
intercourse with its principal officers, and with the 
best educated men in the Colonies. 

It has been said that he taught the Berkeleyan 
philosophy while a tutor, and that Jonathan Edwards, 
one of the most acute metaphysical reasoners the 
world has ever seen, became a convert to the system 
through his instructions ; but neither of these state- 



260 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ments can be true. Edwards, who graduated in 
1720, was not a reverent pupil of Johnson, if he did 
become a Berkeleyan, for according to his own ac- 
count he left in 1717, with a number of disaffected 
students, and went to Wethersfield, where an irregu- 
lar branch of the college was set up, and where he 
remained for two years, until the trustees and council 
met and M removed, " as he wrote in a letter to his 
sister, " that which was the cause of our coming 
away, namely, Mr. Johnson from the place of tutor." 
The departure of Berkeley from Rhode Island was 
delayed more than a year after he learned that the 
faith of the government as to the promised aid was 
really broken. It was in this period that he devoted 
himself with much thoroughness and singleness of 
purpose to the chief studies of his life, and prepared 
" Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher," the most 
popular at the time of all his works. It contained 
graphic pictures of the charming scenery around 
Whitehall, and of the overhanging rocks underneath 
which, according to tradition, he often sat and wrote 
and meditated. In the introduction to the work he 
speaks of the " miscarriage " of the u affair which 
brought him into this remote corner of the country," 
and proceeds: "Events are not in our power, but it 
always is to make a good use even of the very worst. 
And I must needs own, the course and event of this 
affair gave opportunity for reflections that make me 
some amends for a great loss of time, pains, and 
expense. A life of action which takes its issue from 
the counsels, passions, and views of other men, if it 
doth not draw a man to imitate, will at least teach 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 261 

him to observe. And a mind at liberty to reflect on 
its own observations, if it produce nothing useful to 
the world, seldom fails of entertainment to itself. 
For several months past I have enjoyed such liberty 
and leisure in this distant retreat, far beyond the verge 
of that whirlpool of business, faction, and pleasure, 
which is called the world" 

Johnson paid Berkeley a final visit in the summer 
of 1731, and received from him many valuable books, 
and interested him deeply in the college with which 
he had himself been connected. The dean was then 
preparing to break up and leave Whitehall and the 
country, and it was natural, under the circumstances, 
to be concerned how to dispose of those books in his 
library which he did not wish to take with him, and 
of the farm so as best " to promote religion and learn- 
ing in this uncultivated part of the world." On the 7th 
of September, two days after the death of an infant 
daughter, buried under the shadows of the venerable 
church where he had often preached, he wrote to 
Johnson that he was " upon the point of setting out 
for Boston in order to embark for England," and said, 
" the hurry he was in could not excuse his neglecting 
to acknowledge the favor of his letter." " My en- 
deavors," he added, " shall not be wanting, some way 
or other, to be useful ; and I should be very glad to 
be so in particular to the college at New Haven, and 
the more so as you were once a member of it, and 
have still an influence there." 

How long he lingered in Boston before the em- 
barkation has not been ascertained, but he reappeared 
in London in February, 1732, and on the eighteenth 



262 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

day of that month preached in the church of St. Mary- 
le-Bow the anniversary sermon before the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He 
was well fitted to deliver such a discourse by his 
sojourn in America and his association with leading 
missionaries of the Church of England in the neigh- 
borhood of Newport, who, according to the testimony 
of Mrs. Berkeley, " agreed among themselves to hold 
a sort of synod in Whitehall twice in a year in order 
to enjoy the advantages of his advice and exhorta- 
tion.' ' Four such meetings are said to have been 
held. 

The absorbing dream of his manhood was over, and 
when he returned to London for the fifth and last 
time few of his old and most intimate associates were 
there to make mention of his disappointment. Clarke 
and Collins and Steele had descended to their graves; 
Swift had left the metropolis forever, and Butler, as 
Professor Fraser states, " was buried in the seclusion 
of his northern rectory at Stanhope, pondering the 
thoughts which four years later found expression in 
the ' Analogy.' " Still Berkeley was welcomed home 
by the great and good of the realm, and if on account 
of the failure of his scheme he seemed to be less buoy- 
ant of spirit, it did not diminish his zeal to preserve 
and propagate the truth. One of his earliest biog- 
raphers (Bishop Stock) relates that after his return 
from Rhode Island "the Queen often commanded 
his attendance to discourse with him on what he had 
observed worthy of notice in America." But courts 
were no more his pleasure now than they had been 
in former days, and his attention was chiefly occupied 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 263 

with his "Alciphron or the Minute Philosopher/ ' a 
work in seven dialogues, designed to meet the ques- 
tionings of the free-thinkers with whom he had heen 
personally acquainted, and to check the increase of 
irreligion and skepticism. It was first published in 
London, in the spring of 1732, and a second edition of 
it appeared in the same year, — a neat copy of which 
on thick paper lies before me as T write these pages. 
The picture on the title-page of the first volume, of a 
broken cistern, with water running out as fast as the 
stream pours in, is significant of the arrogant attempts 
to overthrow theological beliefs and construct a sys- 
tem contrary to the laws of natural and revealed 
religion. 

The next business of Berkeley was to set himself 
right about Bermuda College, and make an adjust- 
ment or a satisfactory disposition of the private sub- 
scriptions which had been received in its support. 
And now he remembered his promise to Johnson and 
his own prediction in the poem, beginning, — 

" Westward the course of empire takes its way." 

He wrote to him on the 15th of July, 1732, inclos- 
ing a deed of his farm in Rhode Island to the Presi- 
dent and Fellows of Yale College, and opened his 
letter with words which show the singleness of his 
intentions and the forecast of his mind as to a post- 
graduate course : " Some part of the benefactions to 
the College of Bermuda which I could not return, the 
benefactors being deceased, joined with the assistance 
of some living friends, has enabled me without any 
great loss to myself, to dispose of my farm in Rhode 



264 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

Island in favor of the College in Connecticut. It is 
my opinion that as human learning and the improve- 
ment of reason are of no small use in Religion, so it 
would very much forward those ends, if some of your 
students were enabled to subsist longer at their stud- 
ies, and if by a public tryal and premium an emula- 
tion were inspired into all. This method hath been 
found useful in other learned societies, and I think it 
cannot fail of being so in one where a person so well 
qualified as yourself has such influence, and will bear 
a share in the elections." 

Twelve months later he had interested some of the 
Bermuda subscribers to such a degree in Yale College 
that he was enabled, with their assistance, to send 
over a donation to the library of nearly one thousand 
volumes, valued at about £500: "The finest collec- 
tion of books," according to President Clap, "which 
had then ever been brought to America." He sent a 
valuable collection of Greek and Roman Classics to 
Harvard College also, but this was destroyed when 
Harvard Hall, w T here the library was kept, was burned 
on a tempestuous winter's night in 1764. 

A singular fatality seems to have attended the 
designs of Berkeley for the good of America. His 
benefactions to Yale College — especially Whitehall 
and his farm in Rhode Island — have not produced 
the sure helps to classic learning w T hich under other 
circumstances might have been secured. The farm, 
situated three miles or so from the present centre of 
Newport life and summer gayety, is now computed 
to be worth thousands of dollars, but in 1763 it was 
leased for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, which 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 265 

was virtually a sale of the land, and the rent for all 
the remaining time is barely nominal, only $140 per 
annum. If the appreciation of the property could 
have been foreseen, and no long lease given, what an 
income would have been secured for distribution to 
" the Scholars of the House," according to the design 
and conditions of the pious founder ! 

Berkeley was not set aside and forgotten after his 
return to England. His goodness and greatness were 
recognized, and it was some compensation for the dis- 
appointment of his cherished hopes in regard to Ber- 
muda that he was nominated early in January, 1734, 
to the bishopric of Cloyne, in succession to Dr. Sjmge, 
a college friend, who was translated to the See of 
Ferns. The acceptance of this position made it proper 
that he should vacate the deanery of Derry, which 
had been retained by him since his appointment to it 
in 1724. His health at this time was not good, and 
his system seemed to be much disordered. " Of late," 
he wrote to his American friend Johnson, " I have 
been laid up with the gout, which hath hitherto hin- 
dered me from going to Ireland to be consecrated 
Bishop of Cloyne, to which his Majesty nominated me 
near three months ago." He commissioned his corre- 
spondent, Thomas Prior, to look out a lodging for 
himself and family in Dublin, "to be taken only by 
the week," — as it was not his design to tarry there 
longer than was absolutely necessary, — and when 
his library and furniture were again packed and 
shipped to that city, he took his final departure from 
London and proceeded to Dublin, where he was con- 
secrated on Sunday the 19th of May, 1734, Bishop of 
Cloyne. 



266 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

He was now once more in his native island, and 
having become settled in his See House, with his wife 
and two infant sons, — the youngest, George, who 
lived to perpetuate his name, was born in London, — 
he began to resume by degrees his philosophical in- 
vestigations, and at the same time to apply his vigor- 
ous and original intellect to the fulfillment of his 
Episcopal duties. Cloyne was one of the smallest 
Irish dioceses, with forty-four churches and fourteen 
thousand Protestant inhabitants, and, while he might 
have been elevated to a richer and better see, Berke- 
ley preferred the quiet and retirement of this remote 
corner, away from courts, from men of thought and 
letters, and here he dwelt among the simple people 
and illiterate squires for eighteen years without seem- 
ing to have impressed them at all with the greatness 
and benevolence of his character. One of his suc- 
cessors called the place " a dirty Irish village ; " it 
lies in the centre of a valley a few miles east of Cork 
harbor, and presents to-day many of the peculiar fea- 
tures of scenery and civilization which it possessed one 
hundred and fifty years ago. A visit to it in 1870, 
and a walk through its streets and under the ancient 
elms that overshadow its humble dwellings made me 
think of Berkeley at every turn,. and inclined me to 
accept the concise description of an acute observer : 
" If you survey this place with an English eye, you 
would find little to commend, but with an Irish one, 
nothing to blame." Cloyne has ceased to be a sepa- 
rate diocese, and is now a part of the jurisdiction of 
the Bishop of Cork and Ross, but the cathedral, 
mantled with luxuriant ivy, remains, and so do the 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 267 

Cave, the See House, and the Palace Garden, and a few 
rods distant from these rises one of those mysterious 
and picturesque Round Towers of Ireland, whose date 
and design no one has ever unfolded. What seems 
strange to the visitor is that he can find no memorials 
of Berkeley, — no tablet in the chancel, or monument 
of any kind within or without the cathedral to show 
respect for the memory of the greatest name asso- 
ciated with its history. 1 

Berkeley was surrounded in his see by a strong 
Roman Catholic influence, and in his first visitation 
charge to the clergy there are wise suggestions how to 
deal with it and yet be true to the Church. A brief 
extract from this charge will show his Christian spirit : 
" There is, doubtless, an indiscreet, warm, overbearing 
manner ; and in the hands of those who have it the 
best arguments are weak, and the best cause will suf- 
fer. There is, on the other hand, a gentle, prudent, 
and obliging way which would be an advantage to the 



1 A beautiful recumbent figure of the Bishop has since been placed in 
the cathedral at a cost of more than $2,000, said to be worth double that 
amount. Nearly one half the sum expended was from individual con- 
tributors in Rhode Island and Connecticut ; the rest was from the bishops 
of the Irish Church, from clergymen, noblemen, and professors in the 
universities of Dublin, Cambridge, and Oxford. 

A chancel window in Dublin University is inscribed: ' In Memoriam. — 
The Rt. Rev. George Berkeley, D. D., Bishop of Cloyne, sometime 
Fellow of this University." 

When the Battell Chapel of Yale College was completed in 1876, a 
fitting window, recognizing him as an early benefactor, was placed in it 
by graduates and undergraduates of the institution. 

His name is written on the Divinity School at Middletown, which is 
presided over by the Bishop of Connecticut ; and St. Columba, a church 
about three miles from Newport, R. I., was built as a memorial of 
Berkeley. 



268 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

worst, a way that softens the heart and prepares it 
for conviction. Would you in earnest make prose- 
lytes, follow St. Paul's example, and in his sense be- 
come all things to all men, that you may gain some. 
Adopt as much as you conscientiously can of their 
ways of thinking ; suit yourselves to their capacities 
and characters ; put yourselves in their places, and 
then consider how you should like to be dealt with, 
and what would offend you. If your intention is 
rather to gain a proselyte than to triumph over him, 
you must manage his passions and skillfully touch his 
prejudices. To convince men, you must not begin 
with shocking, angering, or shaming them." 

The life at Cloyne was almost as much that of a 
recluse as the life at Newport. Traveling had become 
a weariness to him, and his increasing ill-health kept 
him chiefly at home, and led him to find renewed 
enjoyment in his books and philosophic meditations. 
The family was a centre of happiness, into which he 
infused his own love of truth and of art, and though 
without any ear for music himself he made it a study 
with his children, and retained for years as their 
teacher the celebrated Signor Pasquilino, the embar- 
rassed Italian gentleman who, according to Professor 
Fraser, had been learning English from a dictionary, 
and in an outburst of gratitude to his patron for an 
unexpected favor exclaimed : " May God pickle your 
Lordship ! " 

Among the works which he produced during his 
episcopate were the " Querist" and " Siris," — the first 
published anonymously in three parts, and containing 
original and valuable hints on social and political 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 269 

economy. " Siris " was issued under his own name, 
and, while breathing the philosophic spirit more per- 
haps than any of his publications, was the direct fruit 
of his enthusiasm about tar-water, which he recom- 
mended as a universal medicine, and which was becom- 
ing quite the rage both in England and Ireland. 
Manufactories for it were established in different 
places, and he himself set up an apparatus for making 
it in Cloyne, and was such a believer in the virtues of 
tar that he put large balls of it at the roots of the 
myrtle which he planted with his "'own hands" to 
adorn his garden walks. A tar-water controversy 
ensued, as prolific in pamphlets as the controversy 
with the free-thinkers ten years before. With Berke- 
ley it took a metaphysical turn, and gave him an 
opportunity to weigh and revise in his contemplative 
old age the adventurous speculations of youth. He 
frequently spoke of his favorite medicine in letters to 
his correspondents, and, having a vein of humor in 
his composition, he prefixed to one addressed to his 
friend Prior a playful stanza, which ended : — 

" the doctors are men ; 
Who drinks tar-water will drink it ao-ain." 

Efforts of friends to withdraw him at this time from 
the seclusion of Cloyne, and get him promoted to 
a better see, were of no avail. He could not be 
tempted by a larger income or higher honors. " I am 
not in love," said he to Prior, " with feasts and crowds, 
and visits, and late hours, and strange faces, and a 
hurry of affairs often insignificant. For my own pri- 
vate satisfaction, I had rather be master of my time 
than wear a diadem. I repeat these things to you, 



270 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

that I may not seem to have declined all steps to the 
primacy out of singularity, or pride, or stupidity, but 
from solid motives. As for argument from the oppor- 
tunity of doing good, I observe that duty obliges men 
in high stations to decline occasions of doing good, but 
duty doth not oblige men to solicit such high stations." 
He had conceived a plan, which he called his u Oxford 
scheme," of exchanging his bishopric for a canonry, 
or headship in the university, whither he had decided 
to send his son George, rather than place him in his 
own Alma Mater at Dublin. When he found the 
exchange impracticable, he tendered a formal resig- 
nation of his see, for he had strong objections to non- 
resident bishops. The singular proposal excited the 
curiosity of George II., and on discovering by whom it 
was made, he declared that Berkeley should die a 
bishop in spite of himself, and that he might live 
wherever he pleased. This left him at liberty to exe- 
cute his purpose of removing to Oxford, but the sick- 
ness of a favorite son (William) prevented him, until 
the death of the youth, in 1751, at the age of sixteen. 
The event threw a shadow of deep gloom over the 
household in Cloyne, and touched sensibly the pater- 
nal heart. It was the first great break in the family, 
which had found so much real enjoyment within its 
own circle. "I was a man," he wrote to a friend 
" retired from the amusement of politics, visits, and 
what the world calls pleasure. I had a little friend, 
educated always under mine own eye, whose painting 
delighted me, whose music ravished me, and whose 
lively, gay spirit was a continual feast. It has pleased 
God to take him hence." 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 271 

The later years at Cloyne were those in which he 
affectionately remembered his transatlantic friend, 
Rev. Dr. Johnson of Stratford ; and he was glad to 
hear through him of the " prosperous estate ' of 
learning in the college to which he had sent his bene- 
factions. For a quarter of a century their correspond- 
ence had been kept up with tolerable regularity, and 
several things concerning it were first brought to 
light in my own volume, 1 which give added interest 
to the romantic episode of Rhode Island as well as to 
the retired life in the " serene corner " of Cloyne. So 
late as July 25, 1751, he wrote to Johnson, and this 
was probably his last letter to him; but his great 
American friend, who never ceased to love him for his 
virtues and honor him for his learning and philosophy, 
published about the same time a work entitled " Ele- 
menta Philqsophica," which, " from the deepest sense 
of gratitude," he dedicated to the Bishop of Cloyne, 
and not knowing that he had broken up and removed 
to the classic vale of the Cherwell and the Isis, he 
sent him a copy accompanied by a letter, neither of 
which was received in time for the eyes of the patron. 

His son George had been entered a student at 
Christ Church, and ill health prevented the father 
from going on with him in May, 1752, but in the mid- 
dle of the ensuing August he left Cloyne forever with 
his wife and daughter, — his eldest son Henry, born 
in this country, had been abroad for his health in the 
south of France nearly two years, — and when the 
party reached their destination, the Bishop was so 
prostrated that he had to be '" carried from his landing 

1 Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D. D. 1874. 



272 ADDRESSES AND. DISCOURSES. 

on the English shore in a horse-litter to Oxford." He 
had scarcely had time to be settled in a house'in Holy- 
well Street, and form the acquaintance of a few of the 
heads of the colleges, and give attention to the reprint 
of one or two of his works when a change came to 
him greater than all before. If he had begun to real- 
ize his dream of repose in this classic seat, where the 
memories of a thousand years are gathered, it was not 
long that he did so, for his " removal to eternal 
rewards," as his son wrote to Dr. Johnson, " happened 
suddenly and without any previous notice or pain on 
Sunday evening, January 14, as he was sitting with 
my mother, sister, and myself, and although all pos- 
sible means were instantly used, no symptom of life 
ever appeared after, nor could the physicians assign 
any cause for his death, as they were certain it was 
not an apoplexy. . . . He arrived at Oxford on the 
25th of August, and had received great benefit from 
the change of air, and by God's blessing on Tar- Water, 
insomuch that for some years he had not been in bet- 
ter health than he was the instant before he left us." 
Berkeley provided in his will that his body, after being 
" kept five days," should be buried in the churchyard 
of the parish where he died, and accordingly his re- 
mains were interred in the cathedral at Oxford, and a 
monument was placed over them with a Latin inscrip- 
tion commemorative of the virtues of his pure and 
beautiful life. 

Let us leave him here and look for a moment in 
conclusion at the revival of an interest in his works 
and philosophy. Professor Fraser in the little vol- 
ume named at the head of this article, makes a an 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 273 

attempt/' as he says, " to present for the first time 
Berkeley's philosophic thought in its organic unity." 
He had previously done an admirable service in gath- 
ering and editing his works in three octavo volumes, 
with his "Life and Letters," and an account of his 
philosophy in a fourth, to which the last publication, 
forming one of the series of Philosophical Classics 
for English Readers, is but supplementary. No one 
coming after him will find many facts to glean in re- 
gard to the mitred Saint of Cloyne. His excellent 
and catholic spirit comes out not more in his mis- 
sionary deeds than in the letters and papers which 
have now been rescued from oblivion and committed 
to the press. 

Want of clearness is incident in some degree to the 
study of metaphysics, and Professor Fraser is not 
always perfectly lucid in his explanation of the ideal 
system or of the dividing line between true and false 
philosophy. But he is to be congratulated for having 
done so much to perpetuate a great name, known and 
honored in Europe and America. He is an ardent 
admirer of the character he portrays. " Of the vari- 
ous imperfect thoughts," are his words, "about our 
mysterious life, that of Berkeley — wrapped up in his 
conception of the material world — seems to me, when 
truly understood, to be among the simplest and most 
beautiful in the history of philosophy." Scant men- 
tion is made of his theological discourses, because his 
high reputation was won in other fields of thought; 
but judging from those delivered at Newport, he was 
a scriptural, calm, unimpassioned preacher, who took 

the common doctrines of tbe Church as the frame- 
is 



274 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

work of his instruction and applied them to the prac- 
tical duties of the Christian life. 

A few domestic relics of Berkeley, given by him to 
friends in this country, when he left for England, are 
still carefully cherished and preserved. One of these, 
of special interest for its associations, is the chair in 
which he was accustomed to sit at Newport, and in 
which he is believed to have written out " Alciphron, 
or the Minute Philosopher." It descended to the late 
Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Coit of Middletown, from his 
grandmother, a Newport lady, who received it from 
her father, to whom Berkeley had presented it, and 
the chair was given her to help furnish a new house 
on her marriage and removal to New London. It has 
been committed to the custody of Trinity College, 
Hartford, and on each occasion of the annual com- 
mencement of that institution, the president sits in it 
and confers the degrees upon the graduating class. 
In itself it is of little worth, far less valuable than the 
oak chair in Westminster Abbey, — u where kings and 
queens are crowned," — but time and historic associ- 
ations have surrounded it with an interest and made 
it precious to the student, the scholar, and the philo- 
sopher. 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 

SERMON AT THE CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH OF THE 
ASCENSION, NEW HAVEN, JULY 12, 1883. 

And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, 
and the other on the other side ; and his hands were steady until the 
going down of the sun. — Exodus xvii. 12. 

When the Israelites were upon the march from 
Rephidim to Horeb, they came in contact with Ama- 
lek and his hosts, who resisted their progress and 
stood forth to battle. In this condition of things it 
was not enough for them to rely upon the arm of 
Jehovah and expect to be victorious over their ene- 
mies without personal services and personal sacrifices. 
They remembered that they were to go forward 
under the Divine protection, and surmount the ob- 
stacles and difficulties which might meet them in 
their weary way to the land of their inheritance. 
Moses, standing on the top of the hill with the rod of 
God in his hand, was a signal for Joshua and his 
chosen men to fight with Amalek, and the battle was 
won or lost according as the great Hebrew com- 
mander held up or let down his arm. 

The sight of the rod inspired the Israelites with 
such courage that the enemy fell back before them, 
but when the rod dropped their spirits flagged and 
they despaired of victory. Aaron and Hur accom- 



276 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

parried Moses to the mount where he was to stand, 
not as mere spectators of the warfare below, but 
as his assistants to stay up his hands and prevent 
them from becoming heavy. They were to lighten 
his labor, and relieve him at the very moment when 
relief would be the means of rescuing Israel from the 
power of Amalek. 

This passage of Scripture history has suggested to 
me some thoughts which may not be deemed unsuit- 
able to the happy occasion that has called us together. 
But before proceeding further, it should be simply 
mentioned, without attempting to trace the pedigree 
of Aaron and Hur, that one was of the tribe of Levi 
and in the line of the priesthood, though not yet 
consecrated to that office, when the conflict between 
Amalek and Israel arose. Hur appears to have been 
a layman, and, for that matter, they were both lay- 
men in the services they rendered to Moses in mo- 
ments of weariness or excitement. 

I. We get many grand lessons, and a stay for our 
souls in these unquiet days, from the real life and con- 
tentions of the past. Among these is one teaching 
the perpetuity of truth and the mighty power of Him 
who rules in the midst of His enemies. What was 
Israel, marching on to conquest and Canaan, but an 
image of the Christian Church pushing its way in the 
world, and struggling with bitter and deadly foes that 
start up on all sides to deny her Divine character and 
oppose her progress ? There were times when the 
Hebrews, whom Moses by the command of Jehovah 
led out of Egypt, rebelled against him, and were almost 
ready to stone him, because he had conducted them 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 277 

forth into the wilderness, where they found no water 
to slake their thirst, and no bread till it was rained 
from heaven to save them from perishing by hunger. 
Miracles were multiplied for their benefit, and still 
the two main difficulties which the Divine lawgiver 
had to encounter were the reluctance of the people 
to submit to his guidance and authority, and the 
impracticable nature of the country which they were 
obliged to traverse. Never was the Church put to 
severer trial. Never has any people before or since 
been called to such a mission and to such a work. 
Surely it was for no mere earthly glory or temporal 
end that God wrought wonders in behalf of Israel, 
and kept the nation from being overthrown by the 
power of her enemies or absorbed into the kingdoms 
of the idolater. Moses, who did not live for himself 
but for his people, asked : " Hath God assayed to go 
and take Him a nation from the midst of another 
nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and 
by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched 
out arm, and by great terror, according to all that the 
Lord your God did for you in Egypt?" These stupen- 
dous agencies might well have guaranteed both their 
hope of His protection and their fear of His threaten- 
ings, and convinced them that, whether for good or for 
evil, God, in whose hands all power lay, was indeed 
the Being with whom they had to do. More than 
this, it was He who chose Israel to be his peculiar 
people, to be the custodian of religion, of truth, of the 
Divine oracles, of duty, and of salvation. 

I do not think I need to dwell in this presence on 
the value of the Mosaic economy as connected with 



278 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

the scheme of Christian redemption, or to defend the 
appointments of God against the criticisms of those 
who esteem them of light obligation and greatly 
underrate their efficacy. The Christian Church is but 
the continuation and development of the Jewish, and 
what God did to guard and preserve the one, He 
will, if need be, do to fortify and uphold the other. 
We know not with what eyes those men read the 
Holy Scriptures who cannot see in their teachings the 
unity of Divine truth — the oneness of the great 
Doctrine of the Atonement, enthroned in the Church 
and appearing in some form or sense under all the 
dispensations. As little do we know how infidel 
minds can thrust aside the revealed oracles, and see 
in them no steady and enduring light to direct the 
hopes and control the destiny of men. They who are 
ready to welcome any philosophy which will engage 
to overcloud the Sun of Righteousness, or which will 
attempt to bury the soul decently in the folds of 
matter, or which will ask religion to accommodate 
itself to the varying circumstances and imperious 
necessities of the time — they who are thus inclined 
are not to be followed for the depth of their wisdom, 
or believed because they prefer weakness and con- 
fusion to the gospel which speaks in plain words of 
the sense of sin, of the atoning blood, of the power of 
the Blessed Spirit, and of the sacraments. 

How many people forget that the peace and hap- 
piness and civilization around them flow from the 
influence of the Divine system which infidels rudely 
assail and bad men reject. Why, there is not an 
interest of the State or of society that Christianity 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 279 

does not or will not further, or an agency for pro- 
moting the welfare of the human race which it will 
not develop and extend. It upholds and consecrates 
the authority of law. It puts the seal of Divine 
omniscience on personal purity and social order. It 
ministers to learning and the liberal arts. It deepens 
and strengthens the foundations of liberty and good 
government. It regulates and refines the habits of 
the domestic circle. It makes each home that fully 
accepts it a centre of blessing to the neighborhood, 
and every land that really adorns and honors it be- 
comes a centre of light unto the world. 

God by His mighty and unseen power will prevent 
this truth, so fruitful of good, from utterly falling 
away before the attacks and resistance of its enemies. 
It is quite true, the Church occasionally suffers defeat, 
and as often laments that advantage is taken of this 
fact to belie her character and gain over to the side 
of unbelief the weak and unstable souls that dare not 
rest in perfect trustfulness on the strong arm of God. 
But the failure in such cases is not the result of any 
inherent defect in the system. It is rather the fault 
of those who, though appearing to sympathize with 
all that is good, have nevertheless yielded to tempta- 
tions and become blinded in their minds. As Bishop 
Ken in his " Christian Year " describes it : — 

"Lord, 'tis not in Thy Church alone 
That tares among good corn is sown ; 
Satan, our hearts to discompose, 
His tares there sows." 

Every church built as this has been is a contribu- 
tion to the testimony that the truth and power of 



280 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

God are invincible ; that in an age of movement and 
inquiry, when the pulse of life beats more quickly 
than in the days of our fathers, the way of salvation 
is still the old way, following the uplifted banner of 
the Cross, and teaching us, while we sing the hymn 
of human progress, to repeat with fervid faith the 
creed of the apostles. No wonder that the Church, 
our mother and our home, is distinct in essence from 
the perishing forms of thought and philosophy which 
are the product of ingenious speculation only, since 
her religion has for its basis, its object, not a beautiful 
idea, but a Divine Person. It has for its accompani- 
ment, not a majestic rapture in the contemplation of 
virtue, but the action of faith that stretches to Christ 
from our feebleness, and the utterance of worship 
that speaks to Him — now in the spontaneous famil- 
iarity of prayer, and now in the sublimer accents of 
praise. 

II. We get other and more practical lessons to fit 
this occasion from the example of Israel under the 
leadership of Moses, — lessons which serve to show his 
strength under the Divine guidance, and the strength 
of the people whensoever they were united in obedi- 
ence to his commands and followed him, the type of 
the great Mediator. 

There was nothing in the rod which he lifted on 
the hill that could of itself have saved Israel from the 
power of Amalek, and yet if Moses had thrown it 
away and disregarded the appointment of God, he 
never could have invented anything whereby to work 
miracles and accomplish the stupendous results of his 
mission. " The kingdom of heaven cometh not with 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 281 

observation," we know; but means which have no 
power in themselves become an invisible and mys- 
terious power by their right use and improvement. 
The church — the building of a church, however 
beautiful for architecture it may be, will not save 
souls or be a blessing to a neighborhood, unless it is 
statedly filled with those who come to it for worship, 
for instruction in righteousness, for the testimony of 
the word, and for the comfort and life-giving power of 
the sacraments. We hear a great deal of complaint 
in our day of the neglect and indifference of people 
in regard to attendance upon public religious services, 
and various causes are assigned for what many claim 
to be a growing evil. Sometimes it is said that the 
preachers are not so earnest, self-sacrificing and elo- 
quent as they used to be, and on the other hand the 
preachers are inclined to believe that the root of the 
difficulty lies more in the laity, who often satisfy their 
consciences by a generous or grudging pecuniary sup- 
port, rendered for the sake of their families or as a 
tribute to decent respectability. Then again there 
are those who put a kind of dividing line between the 
clergy and the laity, who seem to think that we of 
the clerical order are appointed to bear the burden of 
parish prosperity without Aaron and Hur to hold up 
our hands when heavy, and that as men of faith and 
hope we ought to live upon our principles and never 
shows signs of weakness and discouragement. 

I do not forget that there are those among us — 
few in number, it is believed — who are too much in- 
inclined to be self-seekers; who ask for wages they 
cannot earn ; who are afraid of work, or, if not afraid 



282 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

of work, would have it given them in a field where no 
thorns spring up, and where the flowers are always 
in bloom. They venture to tread upon holy ground, 
not being shod with the preparation of the gospel of 
peace, but with the shoes of worldliness upon their 
feet. 

These exceptions, however, are no apology for 
underestimating or disregarding the labors of the 
great body of the clergy. We can certainly accom- 
plish very little without the help and sympathy of 
those who, from the heart, recognize us as their Chris- 
tian teachers, appointed to guide and watch over their 
souls with earnest and devoted love. The laity are 
powerless for spiritual good without the clergy, and 
the clergy need the cooperation and influence of the 
laity in building up and strengthening the Church, 
which in the New Testament is declared to be " the 
pillar and ground of the truth." There should be no 
antagonisms between them. Their duties and their 
privileges are mutual, and it is a narrow intelligence 
that would separate them and make them independent 
one of the other. 

How common it is for people to indulge their 
thoughts in imagining improvements which, if at- 
tempted, would oftentimes be only changes and pro- 
vocations to anxiety and disturbance. They know 
not the best way — possibly the way of trial and dis- 
comfort — by which they are to be conducted. The 
deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage of 
Egypt through the wonderful moving of the waters 
of the Red Sea at first stirred their hearts with thank- 
fulness, and they sang anthems of glad praise to God. 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 283 

But soon they began to murmur; and the omnipo- 
tence of Him who " led them in the daytime with a 
cloud, and all the night through with a light of fire," 
was forgotten, and they looked back wishfully to 
Egypt, and wondered why they had been taken from 
its plenty and enjoyment to perish with hunger and 
thirst in the wilderness. So great a leader as Moses, 
so strong in will, so unbending of purpose, so deter- 
mined in fulfilling his mission, and bowing the hearts 
of the stiff-necked Hebrews to the yoke of the Divine 
law, was at times almost discouraged by their unjust 
complaints, and he would have left them to destruc- 
tion but for the voice of the Lord, which came to him 
in thick clouds and reinforced his authority. That 
same voice, my brethren, in lower tones, comes to us 
in these days, and bids us patiently abide in our work. 
It bids us be patterns of gentle forbearance and equa- 
nimity under trials and murmurings which might well 
excuse some severity and reproof. No less does it 
teach the people of religious faith the folly of dwell- 
ing upon minor and immaterial points, and leaving 
so much out of view the great ends for which the 
Church and the ministry were established. I suppose 
we never can expect that the murmuring Israelite will 
cease to exist. As long as the world lasts there will 
be numerous individuals who begin the morning with 
no sunlight upon their faces, and go through the day 
gloomy and dissatisfied, not seeing the streaks of 
encouragement that cross their path, and not turning 
to a practical account the fears they may entertain 
about their own personal neglects and shortcomings. 
We, priests and people, ought always to be men of 



284 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

hope, men of progress. If around us there are signs 
of unrest and discontent, if the Christian bodies 
which once looked upon us with little favor and 
appeared to feel their own superiority are beginning 
to recast their theology and their covenants, and to 
provide themselves with a partial liturgy, we ought 
to be thankful that we belong to a historic Church, 
the cardinal verities of whose faith are less likely to 
undergo change than is the sun to fail in the heavens 
or the everlasting hills to melt. Christ would have 
neither the form without the spirit, nor the dogma 
without the life ; neither the lamp without the oil, 
nor the oil without the lamp. And so the Church of 
our fathers, blending ceremony and substance, Prayer 
Book and the Word of Life, gives us all we need, and 
expects and invites us in return to honor her with 
reverence and loyalty by loving her worship and 
keeping steadfastly to her ways. 

But I must be drawing this discourse to a close. 
Perhaps full enough for the occasion will have been 
said when I have offered my hearty congratulations : 
First, to the rector of this parish, 1 who with singular 
faith, courage, and liberality, has prosecuted the 
effort, and seen it crowned with success, of adding 
another solid edifice to the number of Episcopal 
Churches in New Haven — an edifice of such complete 
ecclesiastical architecture that if " the stone shall cry 
out of the wall," " the beam out of the timber shall 
answer it." Most assuredly, whoever is the instru- 
ment of planning and guiding the erection of a new 
church, which sometimes resembles not a little the 

1 Rev. Edward W. Babcock. 



FROM REPHIDIM TO HOREB. 285 

task of the Hebrews when they were required to pro- 
duce the tale of bricks, though no straw was given 
them — whoever does this accomplishes an enterprise 
which has peculiar trials, if it brings peculiar satisfac- 
tions. He may not find everybody ready to thank 
him for devoting his prayers and his thoughts, so 
long and so earnestly, by night and by day, to the 
good work, or ready to thank him that he has been 
willing to consecrate in this manner a portion of his 
own substance to Him who is " Head over all things 
to the Church." But no matter, gratitude will come 
hereafter, and so will reward. 

" Since with pure and firm affection 
Thou on God hast set thy love, 
With the wings of His protection 
He will shield thee from above." 

I give my Christian congratulations, secondly, to 
the people of this parish. You have been interested 
in the rearing of a house of worship, which is not to 
continue for a little time and then pass away. Unless 
accident befalls it, it will stand long after every one 
here to witness its consecration has gone to the rest 
of the grave. A succession of worshipers will enter 
its portals, but none should love them better than 
you, or be more grateful for the free and liberal con- 
tributions which have enabled you to "bring forth 
the head stone with shoutings." Come, then, to this 
sanctuary with your children, and be taught the 
gospel of our Lord. Open wide your bosoms to the 
sway of that most gracious Spirit, of whose countless 
gifts the best and most illustrious is charity. As 
Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses when he 



286 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

lifted the rod to encourage Israel in the battle with 
Amalek, hold up the hands of your rector and help 
him in his contentions with the evils of ungodliness, 
and in his efforts to bring into the way of righteous- 
ness all those among you who have erred and strayed 
from the fold of the Good Shepherd. And never for- 
get while doing this that the offering which is most 
acceptable to God is the free-will offering of your- 
selves, your souls and bodies ; and that this, though 
now His House, can be " the gate of heaven " to none 
that do not come to Him " a living sacrifice," the pur- 
chase of the Cross of Jesus Christ, renewed and sanc- 
tified, in heart and life, by His eternal Spirit. 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 

SERMON AT THE RECONSECRATION OF CHRIST CHURCH, 
REDDING, CONNECTICUT, JULY 6, 1888. 

We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generations 
to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and his wonderful 
works that He hath done. 

For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in 
Israel, when he commanded our fathers that they should make them 
known to their children. — Psalm lxxviii. 4, 5. 

The Church of God was not provided for a single 
age. It was intended to be perpetuated, to be kept 
up from one generation to another, and wonders were 
wrought in behalf of the people of old to make the 
truth a living power among them, as well as to estab- 
lish the law of divine righteousness. 

This Psalm, the longest of the historical Psalms, 
opens with a call upon the Israelites to incline their 
ears to the oracles of God. Speaking in His name 
and by His authority as an inspired messenger, the 
writer comes forward to rebuke sin and ingratitude, 
and to bring out sharply and clearly the lessons with 
which the past teemed. What was done to punish 
rebellion by the special interference of Jehovah may 
be done again by the ordinary exercise of His provi- 
dence, if in these days the conduct of believers be 
marked chiefly by forge tfuln ess of His benefits, by 
murmurings at His dispensations, and by general un- 



288 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

godliness. It was laid as a solemn duty upon the 
Israelites that they should pass down from generation 
to generation what the Lord had done for them, so 
that parents were bound to acquaint their children 
with the historical as well as the perceptive and doc- 
trinal parts of their religion. All revealed truth is 
a sacred trust, given to us, not for ourselves alone, but 
that we may hand on the torch to others. As the 
text affirms : — 

" We will not hide them from their children, show- 
ing to the generations to come the praises of the 
Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works 
that He hath done. 

" For He established a testimony in Jacob and ap- 
pointed a law in Israel, when He commanded our 
fathers that they should make them known to their 
children." 

It need not be said in this presence that the Chris- 
tian Church is the continuation of the Jewish, and 
that, considered collectively as a body, it cherishes 
the ancient law appointed in Israel, and holds out, 
through its Divine Head, the offers of salvation, not to 
one tribe or family only, but to the whole human 
race. When our Lord commanded little children to 
be brought unto Him ; when He took them up in His 
arms, laid His hands on them and blessed them ; when 
He declared that each of His followers must " enter 
the kingdom of heaven as a little child," He was 
showing the identity of His religion in this particular 
with the patriarchal and the Jewish, and how the best 
natural affections may be enlisted in communicating 
Christian instruction to the young, and preoccupying 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 289 

their minds with right views and devotional senti- 
ments. Future generations and ages to come are 
helped to the remembrance of religious duty by the 
good lives and righteous deeds of children as taught 
by their forefathers. It has always been admitted to 
be a blessed thing for our Church in Connecticut that 
its earliest clergy, with rare exceptions, were men of 
blameless character. They stamped upon it an im- 
press which it has strongly retained. Every time I 
dip into their work, my reverence for them is revived, 
and I thank God that He gave us such champions to 
" establish His testimony." 

There was no minister of any religious denomina- 
tion whatever on Bedding Ridge when Henrj^ Caner 
came up from the centre of his mission in Fairfield, in 
1727, to look after and serve a few families here that 
professed attachment to the doctrines and worship of 
the Church of England. Among these families were 
some who well understood the principles of their 
belief, and contended for them with an earnestness 
and self-sacrifice which no amount of opposition or 
persecution could overcome. What was rooted in this 
village and in the neighborhood grew into a tree 
which spread its salubrious branches far and wide, 
and formed a shade and shelter for the refreshment 
and comfort of those who desired to worship God in 
the forms of the liturgy. We look back with amaze- 
ment to the days of bigotry and religious intolerance, 
and wonder now how good men could have opposed 
with so much bitterness the introduction of Episcopal 
ministrations into the colony of Connecticut. When 

John Beach announced to his flock in Newtown, over 
19 



290 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

which he had been settled as a Congregational pastor 
for eight years, that, from a serious and prayerful 
examination of the Scriptures and of the records of 
the early ages of Christianity, he was fully persuaded 
of the invalidity of his ordination, and had determined 
to conform to the Church of England and seek orders 
therein, he filled this region with alarm and excite- 
ment, and a lawful town-meeting was called to con- 
sult what was to be done with him after such a decla- 
ration. It ended in the severance of Mr. Beach from 
the ecclesiastical society in Newtown and the appoint- 
ment of a day of solemn fasting and prayer, to be ob- 
served by the inhabitants of the town " under the 
present difficult circumstances." 

And now the dismissed or deposed minister is on 
his way home, as it was termed at that period, for 
Holy Orders. Lemuel Morehouse and others, mem- 
bers of the Church of England in Bedding and New- 
town, 1 have put into his hands a petition to bear to 
the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, to the effect that he may be returned, accord- 
ing to his own desire, to the scene of his former min- 
istrations, and the petition has been granted. Hither 
he comes, and enters in faith upon the work, which 
for half a century he prosecuted with singular intre- 
pidity and unremitting diligence. The hardships that 
he endured, the trials and tribulations through which 
he passed, in fulfilling his ministry and defending with 
his pen the church of his adoption from the bitter 
assaults and misrepresentations of enemies, made him 
a prominent figure in the ecclesiastical history of 

1 Church Documents, Connecticut, vol. i. p. 149. 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 291 

the time, and drew closer around him a people who 
never ceased to regard him with love and veneration. 
During his long pastorate, interrupted only by occa- 
sional illness, he divided his residence between Red- 
ding and Newtown, and officiated alternately on Sun- 
days in their respective houses of worship, often going 
from one to the other and holding a third service in 
the evening. His week-day ministrations reached out 
to Ridgefield, Danbury, New Milford, and other places, 
in all of which the Church has since become stronger 
than on this spot where he had, in the most prosper- 
ous days, about three hundred hearers, and wrote so 
many encouraging letters to the Venerable Society. 
He lived to see a first and a second church built in 
each of his mission stations, which was a gratifying 
evidence of his faithfulness and of increase in the 
strength and number of his people. These churches, 
as in other towns of the colony, were constructed of 
wood, and of the plainest architecture, in keeping 
with the rustic habitations of the early settlers ; but 
they answered well their purpose, and have been 
succeeded by the more convenient, substantial, and 
ornate structures demanded by the luxury, the cul- 
ture and wealth of the present day. 

I have no doubt that churchmen loved and hon- 
ored those rude old sanctuaries with all the inter- 
est and affection which we bestow on ours now. 
They traveled, many of them, it is certain, six, eight, 
and ten miles to offer in them prayer and praise, and 
to be publicly instructed in the way of Christian truth 
and duty. Long years ago, when I was holding my 
first pastoral charge in Cheshire, a venerable parish- 



292 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ioner presented to me a manuscript sermon written 
by the Kev. John Beach. It was delivered to your 
ancestors in this village in 1754, and from the text, 
" Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, 
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice 
of fools, for they consider not that they do evil," he 
drew lessons which are as significant and important 
at one time as another. A single passage may be 
cited for its peculiar pertinency to this occasion : — 

" When we are in the house of God, we should say, 
as Jacob did, ' How dreadful is this place — this is 
none other but the house of God, and this is the gate 
of heaven/ God says, ' Ye shall keep my Sabbaths 
and reverence my sanctuary.' The reverence is not 
to be paid to the place for itself, but to God, whose 
house it is, and who is here in a special manner. 
Where two or three meet in His name, there He is. 
He was visibly present in the tabernacle and temple 
by the cloud of His glory, and He is as really present 
in all the assemblies of His saints." 

Nothing shows the presence of thrift and care so 
completely as the neat farmhouse, kept with all its 
surroundings in the best order, and giving evidence 
thereby of the peace, the comfort, and the happiness 
of its occupants. In like manner, the neat little 
church, rising on the hillside or nestled in the valley, 
is among the most attractive objects in a landscape, 
and it stirred to enthusiasm the sentiment and feel- 
ings of the Christian poet when he penned the charm- 
ing ballad : — 

" As I rode on my errand along, 
I came where a prim little spire 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 293 

Chimed out to the landscape a song, 
And glowed in the sunset like fire. 

" Its cross beamed a beckoning ray, 

And the home of my Mother I knew ; 
So I pressed to its portal to pray, 

And my book from my bosom I drew. 

" How sweet was the service within, 

And the plain rustic chant how sincere ! 
How welcome the pardon of sin, 

And the kind parting blessing how dear! 

" And the parson — I knew not his name, 

And the brethren — each face was unknown; 
But the Church and the prayers were the same, 
And my heart claimed them all for its own." 1 

More than half a century has passed away since 
a society was formed in Cambridge, England, which 
took for its motto the words of Horace, Donee templa 
refeceris ; and its object was to stimulate an interest 
in church architecture and especially to direct public 
attention to the condition of parish churches through- 
out the realm, many of which were then sadly neg- 
lected, and even sinking into decay. No recent 
traveler in England can fail to note the wonderful 
restorations and improvements which have been made 
within the last few years of buildings, large and 
small, set apart for public worship according to the 
ritual of the Church. 

The interest thus awakened in the mother-land has 
been brought over to this country, where it has de- 
veloped itself in the erection or reconstruction of 
churches better fitted to a rubrical and more dignified 
rendering of our service. A large part of this con- 

1 Bishop Coxe. 



294 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

gregation may recall the time when the chancel 
arrangements were clumsy and inconvenient, when 
pulpits in rural churches, overhung with sounding- 
boards, were spacious, built against the wall nearly 
midway between the level of the t floor and the apex 
of the roof, and used frequently both for the prayers 
and the sermon. Sometimes, lower down in front of 
the pulpit, a high breastwork was raised, and outside 
of this stood the Lord's Table, which the minister 
approached only on Communion Sundays. The pro- 
cession of a single clergyman from the vestry-room 
at one end of the church to the chancel at the other, 
and, when a surplice was worn, his recession to 
change for the black gown to deliver his sermon, are 
things in the past not to be revived, and not pleasant 
for many of us to remember. 

To say nothing about the new edifices, I believe I 
am safe in the statement that since the consecration * 
of our present bishop nearly every old parish church 
in the diocese has been enlarged, remodeled, beauti- 
fied, or reconstructed. You have done a good thing 
for yourselves, my brethren, and a shown to the gene- 
rations to come the praises of the Lord" by richly 
adorning your church and making tasteful improve- 
ments in it, conformable to the spirit and require- 
ments of the day in which we live. 2 This chancel, 

1 October 29, 1851. 

2 The improvements reflect great credit upon the rector and people of 
the parish, and upon the Rev. G. M. Wilkins, rector of Trinity Church, 
Newtown. The handsomely carved eagle lectern bears the inscrip- 
tion : — 

This lectern is placed here to the glory of God, and in grateful recognition 
of the valuable aid rendered by the Rev. Gouverneur Morris Wilkins to this 
ancient parish of Christ Church, Redding Ridge. 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 295 

erected by the munificence of descendants of John 
Beach, is a fit memorial of one, the intimate convictions 
of whose mind could not be smothered by persecution 
and adversity or overlaid by the sharp controversies 
into which he was unwillingly drawn. How it would 
have gladdened his heart to behold the spectacle be- 
fore us, and to have shared with a bishop and a com- 
pany of clergymen in a service which it was not per- 
mitted him to witness on this continent. He labored 
zealously to build up the Church under the superin- 
tendence of an earthly head three thousand miles 
away, and never ceased to wonder why one of the Epis- 
copal order could not be sent over to perform the Apos- 
tolic offices, and save young men, who might have it 
in their minds to apply for Holy Orders, the expense 

The memorial gift of the chancel and its furniture is described in a 
brass tablet occupying the space over the door leading into the vestry- 
room from the rear of the church : — 

To the glory of God and to the blessed memory of the Rev. John Beach, 
A. M., faithful missionary of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Newtown and Bedding in the troublous times from 1732 to 1782, this 
chancel is erected and furnished by two of his descendants. 

Near by is another brass tablet which preserves a relic of the early 
history of the church in Bedding, and on which is engraved: — 

This bullet was fired at the Bev. John Beach, A. M., while officiating in the 
ante-Revolutionary church of this parish, and was found lodged in the sound- 
ing-board when that building was taken down and the present edifice erected. 
Pausing for a moment, the venerable pastor repeated these words to the 
alarmed congregation : "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able 
to kill the soul ; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and 
body in Hell." The bullet is preserved here as a relic of his loyalty to the 
Church. 

The musket ball forms the centre of a Maltese cross in the left-hand 
corner of the tablet in bold relief, to be seen from any part of the church. 
Other memorial gifts to the church are recognized with suitable in- 
scriptions. 



296 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and dangers of a voyage to England. It is impossible 
to interpret the policy of British rulers in denying 
the repeated entreaties of the colonial clergy for the 
Episcopacy on any ground but the fear of offending 
the Puritan element and exciting the colonies to rebel 
against the home government. The narrow states- 
manship of the day would not allow anything to be 
done for the Church which might be thought to put in 
peril the possessions of the Crown, or interfere with 
the trade and commerce of the country. But Provi- 
dence worked out the problem in His own way, and 
in time gave us bishops untrammeled by the State 
and free to exercise the spiritual functions committed 
to them in the Church of God. 

With greater privileges and advantages come 
greater responsibilities. If the age, with its special 
characteristics, makes new demands upon the clergy, 
and requires them to meet and ponder the questions 
which science and philosophy are perpetually raising, 
they are not to forget, and the people are not to for- 
get, the old truths, the old plan of salvation. No era 
of religious thought can take away or lower the 
claims of Christ and the standard of Christian duty. 
The worship which your fathers offered on this sum- 
mit was to the same God who claims your homage 
and worship now. Your present condition is but a 
link in a chain of events which stretches over a long 
period, and teaches you, as the children of a blessed 
inheritance, not to be unmindful of what is before 
you, at the same time that you are not forgetful of 
what is behind. The way to keep alive an old par- 
ish that is constantly drained by a stream of its people 



THE TESTIMONY ESTABLISHED. 297 

running outward is for those who remain to be pa- 
tient and more self-sacrificing, to stand fast by the 
teachings of Christ and his apostles, which are the 
standard of the Church and the rule of its existence. 
I have often thought that the early churchmen of 
Connecticut were more careful to remember the Lord 
in their wills than men of the present day. You will 
not find great stones, elaborate in design and exqui- 
site in sculpture, erected to their memory in ceme- 
teries, but their names are written in many a parish 
record-book, and, if the legacies they devised were in 
some instances absorbed by the Revolution and in 
others misused or misappropriated by vestries, they 
show at least a desire on the part of those who made 
them to serve the Church after death and help main- 
tain constant regular ministrations. Sometimes a 
man who has gone forth to the great city and been 
successful in accumulating a fortune and making a 
name for himself looks back to the home of his boy- 
hood and the Church where he was dedicated to God 
in baptism and, by a timely benefaction, revives the 
drooping hopes of the little rural parish and starts it 
into a new and better life. 

Much is said in these days about Christian unity, 
for which we may all labor and pray. Time has 
mellowed the prejudices and modified many of the 
opinions that existed a century ago, but no true church- 
man will for a moment maintain that the decomposi- 
tion of the kingdom of Christ into a multitude of sects 
* is a matter of indifference to Him, or that all the mul- 
tifarious communions around us are of equal value in 
His eyes. John Beach never surrendered a cardinal 



298 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

principle of his belief to gain a friend or secure peace. 
He carried on a war at a distance in defense of the 
Church, but here at home he was gentle as a lamb, 
and taught his people to be so in the intercourse 
of private life ; else how could he have gone through 
the struggles of the Revolution, and continued to 
pray for the king and royal family. In one of his 
communications to the Venerable Society, ten years 
before his death, he said: — 

" We live in peace and harmony with each other, 
and the rising generation of the Independents seems 
to be entirely free from any pique and prejudice 
against the Church." 

This is the way for Christian bodies to live, side by 
side. May the Lord through His Spirit strengthen 
you and give you prosperity. By all the hallowed 
memories of the blessings of the Christian ministry, 
by the eucharistical feast, by the baptismal rite, by 
the marriage vow, by the remembrance of your dead 
buried out of your sight "in sure and certain hope of 
the resurrection to eternal life," — by all these be en- 
treated to hold the truth " in faith and love which is 
in Christ Jesus." That truth will endure when every- 
thing which is not true shall have passed away. 



LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE. 

SERMON AT THE REOPENING OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, 
CHESHIRE, AFTER ADDITIONS TO THE ORIGINAL EDI- 
FICE, JANUARY 16, 1890. 

Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where 
thine honor dwelleth. — Psalm xxvi. 8. 

Well-nigh half a century has passed away since 
this church was consecrated, and it is the third time 
that I have been asked to come up here and preach a 
sermon on the occasion of reopening it after additions 
and extensive improvements. The cost of the original 
structure, erected in a day when money went much 
farther than now, was but a fraction compared with 
the aggregate of the later expenditures. We all know 
that fashions change with the demands of the age, and 
hence much more is now required than formerly in 
the way of comfort and convenience to carry on suc- 
cessfully the work of a city, or a rural, parish. No 
man builds himself a house to live in without finding 
when he comes to occupy it where it can be altered 
and improved. It is somewhat so with churches. 
" The pattern showed to Moses in the Mount " would 
not be acceptable to the Jewish mind in these days. 
If the earliest disciples of our Lord in the poverty of 
the Christian Church had places of worship religiously 
set apart from every secular use, they must have been 



300 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

simple in their character and devoid of ornament and 
splendor. Magnificent temples, large and decorated, 
did not appear until Christians had increased in num- 
bers and in wealth — nor until God was pleased to 
raise up kings and queens and emperors to be 
defenders and guardians of the true faith. 

This parish in the period of its infancy and feeble- 
ness had those connected with it who made sacrifices 
for Christ worthy of the good name which they bore. 
They worshiped with their brethren in Wallingford 
after the cherished liturgy of their English ancestors 
until 1760, when they "built themselves a small 
church " on this site " for their greater convenience 
in the winter season," and it was opened with suitable 
religious services, and the little flock kept together 
by lay-reading and a regular parochial organization. 
Nature has always taught us on the completion of an 
important structure designed for public and lasting 
good to solemnize its first appropriation to the purpose 
for which it was reared by some special recognition, 
and we have done to-day what your forefathers did 
when they set up here in love and faith a church as 
" an ensign on a hill." 

In the expansion of towns and villages and the 
shifting of popular centres, it has frequently been 
found necessary or advisable to select new locations 
in rebuilding houses of public worship, but no such 
necessity has existed in this place. All the successive 
churches of your parish have risen on the same old 
historic ground, and you may read the names of their 
builders engraven upon the stones and monuments so 
thickly set in the adjoining churchyard. The Barneses 



LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE. 301 

and the Beaches, the Bronsons and the Brookses, the 
Doolittles and the Driggses, the Hitchcocks and the 
Humistons, the Iveses and the Jarvises,the Mosses, the 
Potters, the Weltons, and many others that might be 
mentioned, rest together in " the night of the grave," 
and from each of them we seem to hear as the linger- 
ing voice of a departing echo — " Lord, I have loved 
the habitation of thy house and the place where thine 
honor dwelleth." 

A fixed resolution to adhere to the worship of God 
in the sanctuary was a noble characteristic of those 
who in the olden time hated the company of evil- 
doers and hallowed their lives by keeping ever fresh 
in remembrance the duty of prayer and praise. When 
David in another Psalm affirmed, "I was glad when 
they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the 
Lord," he spoke the best feelings of our nature, and 
showed how with a full heart he welcomed the priv- 
ilege of participating in the public ordinances of 
religion. Who will deny that this is a precious priv- 
ilege still ? Faithfully improved, it will not only lead 
to a love of the Lord's house but to inward spiritual 
blessedness. One day in seven is set apart for the 
purposes of rest and religion, and where or how can 
some portion of it be better spent than by joining with 
a multitude of Christian worshipers in praying the 
prayers of the Church and listening to the instructions 
of her authorized ministers ! Churches are not built 
simply for the adornment of a city or a village. They 
are imposing objects, which no reflecting person can 
pass by without thinking for a moment of their use 
and design. The more we frequent them the more we 



302 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

shall prize the worship within their walls. " One 
great part of the history of the Bible," says Dean 
Church, "is the history of calls, widely different in- 
deed in their circumstances, but alike in this, that 
they were a claim of Almighty God on the will and 
choice of man for a free and unconditional service.' ' 
This unconditional service we render when we wor- 
ship Him in the sanctuary in the beauty of holiness, 
and though we may adore Him elsewhere, — in the 
family and in the closet, in the forest and in the field, 
in the valley and on the mountain-top, yet His house 
is called His habitation and the place where His 
ft honor dwelleth." We must remember that the 
church is very much to us what we choose to make 
it. We may come to it with a worldly feeling, and 
not reap the benefits which its sacred ordinances were 
designed to impart. We may take no pains to con- 
trol and mould our thoughts, and so allow images and 
recollections to crowd in upon us which are positively 
destructive of religious enjoyment and profit. The 
careless, undisciplined worshiper has all kinds of loose 
ideas carrying off his mind at every moment from the 
proper business of the sanctuary. We are all liable, 
the best of us, to wanderings in prayer, but if the 
cares of the world turn our devotions into a sea of 
tumultuous thoughts, the Spirit moves upon that sea 
and immediately there comes a blessed calm. Not 
that we are to have or to expect sensible or mir- 
aculous interpositions in the kingdom of grace any 
more than we expect visible upliftings of the Divine 
arm on our behalf in the kingdom of providence. We 
do not live on the calculation of miracles, but on the 



LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE. 303 

observed and prescribed conditions of the Christian 
economy. Apart from all answers, whether present 
or future, prayer both public and private, persevered 
in, must tend to the improvement of individual char- 
acter. It keeps the soul to its work. If you can each 
say, " Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house 
and the place where thine honor dwelleth," then you 
have been here at stated times and seasons to manifest 
your love for it, to pay religious homage to the Most 
High, to express and strengthen your pious venera- 
tion, your thankfulness and your confidence, to seek 
and receive pure influences from above, — in short, to 
be instructed in the Divine word, and to consecrate 
yourselves afresh to the honor and glory of God. 
Habitual prayer builds up the moral life and makes 
men as members of society different in their whole 
bearing and character from those who do not pray. 
It deepens the sense of a personal existence and places 
the soul face to face with facts of the first order of 
solemnity and importance — with its real self and with 
its God. 

The institution of the Sabbath was a blessed thing 
for the human race and the command to remember 
and keep it holy is a perpetual invitation to enter the 
sanctuary of the Lord and do honor to His great 
name. It was a wise and merciful ordering of Provi- 
dence that earthly toil and the rumbling of carts and 
the hum of busy industries should be suspended every 
seventh day. God knew that men who bow down 
their backs always unto the burden, and beasts that 
He has made obedient unto man, needed this suspen- 
sion to rest and regain fresh vigor. Why, a century 



304 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

ago, during the reign of atheistic terror in France, the 
National Assembly passed an order substituting for 
the week and the Sabbath the decimal division of 
time, and making every tenth day a holiday. What 
was the result ? The peasants in the rural districts 
very soon discovered that the law of God was better 
for the brute beasts, and more profitable, than the law 
of man. " Our cattle," said they, " know the Sabbath 
and will have it," and before the order was reversed 
and the nation and its rulers had recovered from their 
wild delirium, the Sunday — the seventh day — was 
resumed in many quarters for reasons of economy 
and public utility. 

If such a thing were possible as striking down all 
churches in a Christian community and doing away 
with all remembrance of the Fourth Commandment, it 
is quite certain that that community wouid suffer 
morally and religiously, and sooner or later relapse 
into a condition but little above heathenism. Irre- 
ligious persons do not comprehend how much they 
are indebted to those who love and maintain the 
habitation of the Lord's house and " in everything by 
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make 
known their requests unto God." They cannot help 
feeling a sincere sympathy with the success of their 
work, but they fail to be impressed with the aims of 
that Divine revelation which lifts us up from earth to 
heaven. Too many become critics and doubters, and 
shield themselves under the cover of mystery and 
darkness. They appear to think they are safe in a 
negative goodness, and that what they do not perfectly 
understand they need not practice. Possession in- 



LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE. 305 

volves responsibility, and the word of salvation given 
to us in order that we may use it for ourselves has 
enough in it so plain that he who reads it may learn 
his duty, if he will, and be guided to its habitual 
practice. How can any one expect to be instructed 
unless he comes within reach of the instructor ? In 
the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God, there lie the 
thoughts for all our knowledge and the master prin- 
ciple of all our conceptions. One thing is certain : 
nothing can take the place of Christianity. There is 
no substitute which its enemies may propose that will 
help to remove a shadow that foils upon our paths or 
lighten a burden that rests on our souls. 

When our Lord was upon earth, He bade men 
follow Him; the spell of His presence drew them and 
they followed without delay. He is a living Lord, 
and He bids us follow Him now and love the habita- 
tion of His house, where He offers His gifts, His word, 
His sacraments. No change in the phases of modern 
thought, no teaching that attempts to represent and 
interpret the spirit of the times, is safe teaching if it 
leaves out of view the essential doctrines and com- 
mandments of Christ. We ought to think of miracles 
in the past, we ought to think of the manifest pres- 
ence of God in the future, as parts of the one great 
system of mercy and love which is to be upheld and 
propagated till we come to " the new heavens audi 
the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 

I do not know that I need to extend this line of 

thought. Enough has been said to show the value of 

preserving the truth in its integrity and of cherishing 

a love for " the habitation of the Lord's house." Both 
20 



306 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

individual and social happiness will come from keep- 
ing close to duty and following the example of Christ. 
" The State can make certain kinds of vice unpleasant 
or unprofitable; it can absolutely forbid certain 
crimes, and punish them with a terrible vengeance ; 
it can enforce a certain amount of moral training 
and discipline upon children, and upon the servants 
in its own employment ; but it can do little to make 
virtue directly pleasant or profitable to the mass of 
its citizens." 1 It is Christianity which does this — 
Christianity which supplies the power of living above 
the world and of taking an active part in the objects 
and movements of society without being borne down 
by evil influences or swayed by evil teachings. Its 
" ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are 
peace." That thousands and tens of thousands sit 
beneath the shadow of the true faith and yet are not 
obedient to it, and find no satisfaction in coming to 
the Lord's house, no one will deny ; but this is not 
the fault of Divine revelation, but rather of depraved 
human nature which is so blind to spiritual peace and 
contentment. Even in human nature there is a want 
which the world cannot supply, — a thirst for objects 
on which to pour forth more fervent admiration and 
love than visible things awaken, — a thirst for the 
unseen, the infinite, the everlasting. There is only 
one way of satisfying it, and that is by going to the 
wellspring of Christ, and taking there the water of 
life offered to every thirsting soul through the grace 
and mercy of our Heavenly Father. 

Every earthly thing is characterized by change and 

1 Wordsworth's Bampton Lectures, p. 232. 



LOVING THE HABITATION OF GOD'S HOUSE. 307 

decay. As years come upon us, and we live in recol- 
lection more than in hope, the heart goes back to 
those places and circumstances which were dear to us 
in early life. Of the eleven clergymen present at the 
consecration of this church on the first day of August, 
1840, not one is now living except myself, and of the 
congregation then gathered within these walls, how 
many sleep the sleep that will know no waking till 
they hear the trumpet-call on the morning of the great 
Resurrection ! So one generation passes away and 
another succeeds. So one generation does its work 
for the church, and leaves to its successors this precious 
admonition : " While we have time let us do good 
unto all men, and especially unto them that are of 
the household of faith." 

Probably no one as his steps draw near to the end 
has other than pleasant recollections of his charities, 
and of the good deeds which God has enabled him to 
do for his house and people. Men eager for the 
riches of the world toil night and day to gather them, 
and make investments in institutions which are occa- 
sionally wrecked by mismanagement or dishonesty, 
but nothing given to the Lord is ever really lost or 
fails to be an element in storing up for the true- 
hearted believer a good foundation against the time 
to come. A gentleman who had been eminently 
successful in his accumulations, and had never for- 
gotten to honor the Lord with a measure of his sub- 
stance was by a strange disaster suddenly stripped of 
his fortune and reduced almost to poverty. A sym- 
pathizing friend said to him, " What a calamity ! 
You have lost all." " No," was the reply. " In my 



308 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

prosperous years I devoted regularly a liberal sum 
to the Lord. That is saved, that is saved. The rest 
is gone." By the help of one * who was a native of 
this town, and whose munificent gifts to church and 
educational objects adorn the history of a good life, 
you have made an addition to this edifice which gives 
it outwardly a new character, and supplies what most 
parishes in these days feel to be an absolute necessity. 
No such noble work is accomplished without anxiety 
and self-denial on the part of minister and people. 
Those who come after you will reap the advantage, 
and yet not know what you know. I should have 
thought that the lines had fallen to me in a very 
pleasant place, if I had come a deacon to a church 
like this instead of coming to the creaking old build- 
ing which threatened to tumble together every time 
a gale swept over the village. 2 It does not seem that 
anything more can be done in the way of material 
improvements, and now let a new life breathe through 
the worship of this house and a new love join the 
hearts of the worshipers. Remember your responsi- 
bilities. Remember yourselves. Love this house as 
the habitation of the Lord and the place where His 
honor dwelleth. And remember, too, how the apostle 
Paul winds up the greatest picture of human life and 
human destiny ever set before the minds of men, thus : 
" So we being many are one body in Christ, and every 
one members one of another." 

1 Mr. George A. Jarvis, of Brooklyn, N. Y. 

2 The late Rev. Dr. Tillotson Bronson, attending a service when the 
church was shaken by a violent wind, is said to have looked up and 
around fearfully for a moment, and then to have seized his hat and 
walked hurriedly out. This was done on several occasions. 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 

DISCOURSE AT THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNI- 
VERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF ST. JAMES'S PARISH, 
BIRMINGHAM, CONNECTICUT, JUNE 30, 1891. 

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. — Psalm lxxxvii. 3. 

Bishop Horsley has translated this verse : " The 
glories of the wilderness are in thee, city of God." 
The whole composition was one which evoked his 
genius ; but the most important change from the 
common translation made by him is at the sixth 
verse, where for the words : " He write th up the 
people," he renders "Jehovah shall record in the 
scriptures of the peoples." He applies the Psalms 
for the most part to the Messiah, but his notes upon 
them are fragmentary, — mere hints to help the Bib- 
lical student. 

The eighty- seventh Psalm opens with an out- 
burst of intensely national feeling, and celebrates not 
earthly splendors or victories, but the glory of Zion 
as the city of God. The Jews are constantly re- 
minded that they were a separate people, distinct 
and intended to be distinct from all others. Their 
land was a special gift from heaven, and the narrow- 
ness of their spirit corresponded to the narrowness of 
their geographical position. Judaism as such held out 
no hope of a brotherhood of nations. Psalmists and 



310 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

prophets shared the feeling of antipathy to the world 
around them, and were slow to believe that a time 
would come when the Gentiles would be gathered in, 
and the temple of Jehovah become the centre of a 
common faith and worship. It lends force and dignity 
to the idea of the comprehensiveness of the Kingdom 
of Kighteousness that God, by His prophet, says : " I 
will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them 
that know me. . . . The Lord shall count when he 
writeth up the people that this man was born there." 

The privileges of citizenship were among the " glo- 
rious things " to be extended to the Gentiles, and they 
surely would be finally welcomed as brethren. A 
better and higher fulfillment, therefore, than that 
which lies on the surface of the words, has been given 
to this Psalm, for it was fulfilled in the coming; of 
Christ, and every member of His great family is 
solemnly introduced into it and registered among its 
redeemed people. The saying of our Lord : " Except 
a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God," is an aid to 
its interpretation, and strengthens the conception of 
a new birth unto righteousness. 

" See," expounds St. Augustine, " of what city he 
sayeth that very glorious things are spoken of it. 
The earthly Jerusalem is destroyed. It has endured 
the violence of its enemies ; it is laid even with the 
ground ; it is not what it was ; it expressed the image 
of what it was to represent, and passed away like a 
shadow." What has taken its place ? 

The old Psalms of the historic Jerusalem are set to 
the music of the Christian Church, "the Church of 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 311 

the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 
A branch of this Church was planted here one hun- 
dred and fifty years ago, and watched and nurtured 
in its weakness by missionaries of the Venerable Soci- 
ety for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts. The unhappy effects of the spirit of the times 
had awakened an interest in religious subjects, and 
sharp controversies sprang up on the order and gov- 
ernment of the Church, and on the principles of 
divine worship as well. Men read with eagerness 
the publications of the day — ■ books were not as plen- 
tiful then as now — and if you could have asked one 
of them, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" 
he would have been able to give you a ready and in- 
telligent answer. Just over the river, within the lim- 
its of Ripton (now Huntington), there dwelt a layman 1 
of large landed possessions, — one of the little band 
that welcomed to Connecticut the early visits of Muir- 
son and Heathcote, and who, in spite of the bitter per- 
secutions that befell him, kept the faith, and so by 
his example revived in others an affection for the 
Church of England. One strong man of unblemished 
moral character and ri^ht Christian belief can do 
much in a lay capacity to sow the seed of the King- 
dom and bring forth fruit unto perfection. 

The first Episcopal Church in Connecticut was 
erected in Stratford, and while Samuel Johnson was 
serving; in it he carried his ministrations into different 
places, and sometimes ascended the valley of the 
Naugatuck as far as Waterbury, and even farther, 
baptizing and performing other Christian offices for 

1 Daniel Shelton. 



312 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

the scattered families of churchmen. I am sure he 
put his finger upon the enterprise started in Derby, 
in 1737, by John Holbrook and seven men of like 
religious feeling, and he must have watched with 
interest the building of a little church, which it took 
nine years to complete. He instructed the people in 
the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and put into 
their hands volumes of discourses to be read from 
when they assembled for Sunday services. This can 
be proved by an incident worth relating. Beyond 
the banks of the Housatonic — beyond the hills in the 
centre of Ripton — there was an over-zealous Congre- 
gational minister, 1 an enthusiastic follower of White- 
field, who had broken a lance with Johnson on original 
sin several years before, by writing him letters, and 
calling in question his belief and doctrinal teachings. 
In one of his replies, dated November, 1741, 2 John- 
son said : " You talked about Dr. Clarke, but I never 
undertook to justify his doctrine of original sin, which 
I even allowed to be expressed too loosely and un- 
guardedly ; only I was willing to put a more favor- 
able construction upon it than you did ; nor do I 
remember I ever advised Darby people to read his 
sermons in public, but I am sure I advised them not 
to do it, and lent them another book to read, that 
they might not read his." 

Jonathan Arnold, the immediate successor of John- 
son, in the Congregational ministry, at West Haven, 
and probably led by him, conformed to Episcopacy 
in 1734, and his name was entered in the parish 
register of the church in Stratford as making his first 

1 Jedediah Mills. 2 MS. Letter. 



GLOKIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 313 

communion on Easter day of that year. An infant 
son of his was baptized about the same time, and 
going afterwards to England for Holy Orders, Arnold 
returned with the appointment of an itinerant mis- 
sionary for the Colony. The society was at that time 
pledged to the full amount of its income, but possessing 
some means of his own, he expressed a willingness to 
serve without stipend or remuneration other than the 
trifling allowance afforded by the people. He contin- 
ued to reside in West Haven, and the houses of wor- 
ship begun in that place and in Derby stood unfinished 
when he removed to Staten Island, N. Y., in the spring 
of 1740. 1 He was succeeded by the Rev. Theophilus 
Morris, an English clergyman who, in his first letter to 
the society, said : " Should I give you an account of 
the geography of my mission, you would find it large 
enough for a diocese." Mr. Morris soon tired of his 
work and of what he was pleased to call "the wretched 
fanaticism that ran so high in this country," and re- 
turned to England, having served here scarcely more 
than two years. Then came the Rev. James Lyons, 
a clergyman sent over from Great Britain, who was 
met on the very threshold of his ministrations with 
the taunt of being " an Irish teague and a foreigner." 
He took up his abode in Derby, and went out from 
thence to the various points of his extensive mission, 
but with all his fidelity and earnestness he could not 
overcome the prejudices of the people, or save himself 
from trials and tribulations which, even in these days, 
sometimes beset the most judicious servants of Christ. 
He was transferred to Long Island after a period of 

1 See Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, p. 94. 



314 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

service no longer than that of his predecessor, and 
again the infant churches were without pastoral over- 

Bigh^ except such as was given by the occasional 
visits of Johnson and his resolute and uncoin promis- 
ing brother, John Beach, of Newtown. 

A young man. a native of New Haven, the son of 
Congregational parents, graduated with distinction 
from Yale College in 1741, and with a classmate, 
Noah Welles, who had no good affection for Episco- 
pacy, was awarded the Berkeley premium, given to 
each student in the senior class who sustained the 
best examination in Greek and Latin, provided he 
remained a resident graduate one or more years. 
Richard Mansfield, for such was his name, was appre- 
ciated for his scholarship, and appointed in 1742 
rector of the Hopkins Grammar School, in New 
Haven, — an honorable position which he held nearly, 
if not quite, a lustrum. He had great reputation as 
an instructor of youth after he had begun to exercise 
the duties of the ministry. "Perhaps no man in his 
day " says a biographer, " had greater celebrity in 
preparing young men for college, — a considerable 
number of whom he always had under his care." 1 

The bent of his mind was toward the sacred minis- 
try at the time he graduated, and his predilections 

1 Churchman's Magazine, 1821, p. 263. After the death of Dr. John- 
son, he was the best guide in Connecticut in the higher education of the 
Church. " Candidates for Holy Orders frequently pursued their theo- 
logical studies under his direction, and until a very late period in [his] 
life previous to their entering the ministry they had recourse to him for 
their final instructions, which his sound judgment, great experience and 
learning enabled him to give." 

Bishop Seabury placed Charles, his youngest son, with him before he 
commenced theology under his own immediate supervision. 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 315 

were naturally in favor of the religion of his parents, 
of his instructors, and the community to which he 
belonged. But the excitements and divisions conse- 
quent upon the itinerancy of Whitefield, and the reli- 
gious controversies which sprung up at this period, 
set him on an investigation into the doctrines, gov- 
ernment and worship of the Church of England, and 
early in the summer of 1746, Dr. Johnson asked leave 
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to 
allow him to " come home " for Holy Orders, and be 
returned with the appointment of a missionary to 
Derby, where the people were providing a glebe, and 
verv desirous of having; him stationed. The leave 
was ere long granted, and the time of his return is 
fixed by the Kev. Ebenezer Dibblee, who wrote to 
the secretary of the society, under date of November 
14, 1748, "I take this opportunity, the first that con- 
veniently offers, to acquaint you that by the blessing 
of God Mr. Mansfield and I arrived safe and in good 
health, at New York, on the 23d of October, and to 
my mission at Stamford on the 25th. My mind is 
impressed with a sense of the divine goodness to me 
in my voyage through so many dangers." 

Yery little is now thought of the perils which at- 
tended the men who crossed the Atlantic one hun- 
dred and fifty years ago to obtain valid ordination from 
the bishops of the Church of England. In these days 
of steam navigation, when quick passages in large 
floating palaces are confidently anticipated, we are apt 
to forget the sacrifices and trials of those who, in the 
narrow, uncomfortable cabins of sailing vessels, were 
tossed for weeks and months on the ocean, and were 



316 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

entirely dependent on favoring winds to waft them to 
the point of their destination. Nothing but a sense 
of religions duty impelled them to venture themselves 
in the arms of Almighty God and make the sacrifices 
they did for the sake of what Johnson called that 
"excellent church, the Church of England." As the 
Ordinal teaches, they believed it " evident unto all 
men diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient 
authors that, from the apostles' time, there have been 
these orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops. 
Priests, and Deacons." 

The church in Derby was finished when Mansfield 
established himself in this place, which was the centre 
of his extensive mission, some of the towns requiring 
his visits being thirty and forty miles distant. In a 
letter to the Society, July, 1750, he said: "I have 
continued this last half year constantly to officiate in 
the several parts of my mission, occasionally, espe- 
cially on holy days, at six or seven other towns which 
are destitute of a missionary. The Church seems to 
be in a flourishing condition in the places which I 
visit, notwithstanding the hardships which some of 
them labor under in being distrained by the dissenting 
collectors of money to support their teachers." His 
mission included besides Waterbury, Westbury, and 
Northbury, what has since become the incorporated 
towns of Orange, Oxford, Woodbridge, Naugatuck, 
Seymour, and Ansonia, but from 1755 he kept chiefly 
within the limits of Derby, which was of large extent 
territorially, and embraced Oxford, where a church 
had been built in which he regularly officiated. 

An important event of his life ought not to be passed 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 317 

over at this point. On the 10th day of October, 1751, 
Dr. Johnson married Richard Mansfield and Mrs. 1 
Anne Hull, in the little church "up town," — at that 
time one of the " glories of the wilderness/' and long 
after, since it continued to be the place of worship 
for the early Episcopalians of Derby and their de- 
scendants. 

A quarter of a century goes by and we fall upon 
troublous times when the Church and the State 
were alike shaken by bitter dissensions and unhappy 
divisions. It was a fiery soil upon which men trod 
here during the War of the Revolution. Mansfield 
took the side of the Crown, and taught his people 
peaceableness and obedience to the established gov- 
ernment. He had taken the oath of allegiance to the 
King when he was admitted to Holy Orders, and, like 
his clerical brethren, he was receiving a stipend from 
an English society which, by its charter, would dis- 
continue it the moment the Colonies were acknow- 
ledged to be independent. He did not carry his whole 
flock with him, however, for in Derby as in other 
places there were some who, if they loved the Church, 
loved American independence more. Among this 
number was Captain John Holbrook, who joined his 
wife in conveying the land for the burying-ground 

1 Under the head of Marriages, in the parish register of Christ 
Church, Stratford, the record in the handwriting of Dr. Johnson is : 
" Darby, Oct. 10, 1751, Mr. Richard Mansfield with Mrs. Anne Hull." 

" Miss, at the beginning of the last century, was appropriated to girls 
under the age of ten. Mistress was then the style of grown-up unmar- 
ried ladies, though the mother was living, and for a considerable part of 
the century maintained its ground against the infantine term of Miss." 
Imp. Diet. 

Anne Hull was not sixteen when she was married to Mr. Mansfield. 



318 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

and the site of the first Episcopal Church in the town. 
He withdrew to support the cause of the Revolution, 
and united with others in organizing* the " Great Hill 
Ecclesiastical Society " (Congregational), of which he 
was elected the first deacon. The society ceased to 
exist after a few vears, and its members were absorbed 
by the Methodists, and by the erection of an Episcopal 
Church at Humphreysville. 

Mr. Mansfield was insulted and abused and de- 
nounced as a Tory and a Papist by the populace. In 
a letter to the Society, December 29, 1775, he said : 
" After having resided and constantly performed paro- 
chial duties in my mission full twenty-seven years, 
without intermission, I have at last been forced to fly 
from my church and from my family and home, in or- 
der to escape outrage and violence, imprisonment and 
death, unjustly meditated of late and designed against 
me ; and have found a temporary asylum in the loyal 
town of Hempstead, pretty secure, I believe, at pres- 
ent from the power of those violent and infatuated 
people, who persecute me in particular and disturb 
the whole British Empire. As soon as these sparks of 
civil dissension appeared, which have since been blown 
up into a devouring flame, I did (as I thought it my 
duty) inculcate upon my parishioners, both from the 
pulpit and in private conversation, the duty of peace- 
ableness, and quiet submission to the King and to the 
parent state." 

He was returned to Derby under guard, and the 
" Committee of Inspection," as it was called, publicly 
advertised him as a very dangerous person, altogether 
inimical to the liberties of America, and admonished 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 319 

the people to break off henceforth all dealings with 
him. But he had his friends and was fed, and the 
War of the Revolution went on to the end, and to the 
acknowledgment of American independence. One of 
the most painful duties which he was required to per- 
form, after signs of peace began to appear, was to 
preach a sermon at the funeral of the Rev. John 
Beach, who died March 19, 1782. It was from the 
text : " I have fought a good fight ; I have finished 
my course ; I have kept the faith," etc., — words with 
which he triumphed a few hours before his decease, as 
the sermon, which was printed, states. The country 
was poor, and the interests of the Church in Connecti- 
cut, more than those of any other religious body, were 
involved in the common destruction that war makes. 
The offer of the Crown to the Loyalists to remove 
into the British Provinces of North America was 
accepted by Episcopal clergymen * and laymen in 
Connecticut as a means of living and escaping further 
distress, — but Mansfield remained at his post, and 
was one of the ten that met in Woodbury to delibe- 
rate upon ecclesiastical affairs and organize for the 
future. You know the issue of that meeting, and I 
will pass over the period that intervened between it 
and the coming of Bishop Seabury to Derby, Septem- 
ber 21, 1786, to meet his clergy, and hold an ordina- 
tion in the little church " up town," — still one of the 
" glories of the wilderness." Four candidates were 
admitted to the diaconate. Nor was this all. It was 

1 There were fourteen clergymen in the Colony when the war ended ; 
four of whom — Samuel Andrews of Wallingford, Richard Clarke of New 
Milford, James Scovill of Waterbury, and Roger Veits of Simsbury — 
moved with portions of their flocks to the British Provinces. 



320 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

in the same church, and at the same convocation, that 
he delivered his second and last charge to the clergy 
of Connecticut, and set forth his Communion Office, 
which is substantially the Office that we now have in 
our Book of Common Prayer. 

But the little church had served its day and gene- 
ration, and the time had come for building a larger 
one, and removing the site half a mile down towards 
the " Narrows," where the enterprise of the town was 
centring. The rector had been given an assistant, 
Rev. Edward Blakesley, — not a graduate of Yale 
College, but ordained a deacon on St. Matthias's day, 
1788, and he was here officiating in 1790, and laid the 
corner-stone of the new church in 1797. He died 
suddenly, July 15, of the same year, in the prime of 
his life and the vigor of his usefulness. The church 
was completed in the summer of 1799, and conse- 
crated by Bishop Jarvis, November 20, of that year, 
by the name of St. James's Church, 1 and was the 

1 It had been hitherto called Christ's Church, and that was the desig- 
nation of other unconsecrated churches in Connecticut, before and after 
the Independence of the Colonies. The names of the majority were from 
the beginning the same as now — but on the erection of new churches and 
the presence of a bishop in Connecticut to consecrate, their style and 
title in a few instances were changed. For example, the old historic 
parish in Newtown was called Christ's Church ; but when Bishop Sea- 
bury, on the 19th of September, 1793, consecrated the "well-finished" 
edifice which preceded the present stone church in that place, it was 
given the name of Trinity. 

Much important business was done in the convocation of the clergy 
at this time. Among other things bearing upon the* general interests of 
the Church, was the approval of an Office for Inducting Clergymen into 
vacant Parishes or Churches. It had been prepared by the Rev. Dr. 
William Smith, at the request of the Annual Convention, held six months 
before, and having been "examined paragraph by paragraph," it was 
ordered to be printed and transmitted to the bishops in the United States, 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 321 

fourth edifice which that prelate set apart in this 
manner to the honor and glory of God. 

At the Commencement of Yale College, in 1792, 
Mr. Mansfield received the singular distinction of 
being honored by his Alma Mater with the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity, which, up to that time, had not 
been conferred by the corporation upon any clergy- 
man of the Episcopal Church, however learned he 
might be. Dr. Mansfield had passed beyond three- 
score years and ten when his first assistant was taken 
away, and another does not appear to have been per- 
manently employed till 1804 ; when the Rev. Calvin 
White, a graduate of Yale College, and an humble 
and pure-minded man, was invited here, and served in 
this parish and at Humphreysville, till he glided into 
Romanism, and was ultimately displaced by Bishop 
Brownell from the ministry of the Episcopal Church. 
He did not enter the Romish priesthood, but lived 
henceforth the life of a peaceful layman in sight of the 
sanctuary in which he had so many years officiated. 

It cannot well be supposed that at this time (1819) 
Dr. Mansfield was very active or did much in the 
way of public religious instruction. He still ap- 

and standing committees, where there were no bishops, with a view to 
opening the way for its adoption and use by the Church at large. It was 
first prescribed by the General Convention, in 1804, and " set forth by 
it with alterations in 1808 — the title changed from Induction into Insti- 
tution, and its use made to depend upon recommendation and not upon 
requisition. On comparing the present Office in the Book of Common 
Prayer, with the first printed copy, they are found to be so nearly alike 
as to give to Connecticut the whole credit of providing the Church a 
service which, however much it may be neglected in these days, was in- 
tended to impress upon the pastor and his people their intimate, mutual, 
and solemn relations to each other." See History of the Episcopal Church 
in Connecticut, vol. ii. p. 19. 
ty 21 



322 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

peared among his brethren on great occasions, and 
was at the Annual Convention which elected the third 
Bishop of Connecticut, as he was at the Annual Con- 
vention held here in 1797, in the little church "up 
town," when Dr. Jarvis was chosen to that office. 
He presided in both these conventions, "by senior- 
ity," though he had formerly requested to be excused 
on account of his age and infirmities. He had lived 
to witness the coming in of a kindly popular feeling 
towards the Church, and a gradual increase in Con- 
necticut of clergymen and parishes. " Mansfield, of 
Derby," says the late Rev. Dr. S. F. Jarvis, " I knew ; 
one of the holiest and most guileless of men. When 
the present Trinity Church, New Haven, of which I 
laid the corner-stone in 1814, was consecrated by 
Bishop Hobart, Dr. Mansfield was present. He went 
up into the pulpit, and after looking around in silent 
thought, he said, * I remember when there were but 
three Churchmen in New Haven, and two of them 
were of doubtful character.' So great was the Puritan 
bitterness, that when young Mansfield sailed for Eng- 
land, to receive Holy Orders, his own sister prayed 
that he might be lost at sea." 1 

The venerable saint died on Wednesday, the 12th 
of April, 1820, in the ninety-seventh year of his age, 
and the seventy-second of his ministry and of the 
rectorship of this parish. His successor was the Rev. 
Stephen Jewett, who for thirteen years rendered effi- 
cient services to the parishes in Derby and Hum- 
phreysville, adding to his labors the oversight of a 
family school, kept to fit young men for college, and 

1 Hawkins's Missions of the Church of England, p. 234. 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 323 

eke out a scanty income. For a year or more before 
he resigned his cure and removed to New Haven, 
he generously relinquished his salary ; Providence 
having thrown into his hands the means of support 
without calling upon his people. But this was a step 
which he ever afterwards regretted as wholly unwise. 
The laborer in the vineyard is worthy of his hire, and 
it is no excuse for withholding it from him that he 
is not actually in a state of indigence. 

Under your next rector, the Rev. Joseph Scott, who 
was the first rector to confine his ministrations to this 
parish, was projected the movement to procure another 
site and build a new church. Centres of population 
change with the development of richer industries, 
and under such circumstances, necessity requires that 
the convenience of worshipers and the growth of a 
parish should be consulted and promoted. Old asso- 
ciations may be sundered and painful feelings excited, 
but good Christian people will accept the change and 
see the wisdom of keeping in the line of progression. 
Events have proved that the transfer of the historic 
St. James's Church to this summit and to the edifice 
in which we are assembled was a sagacious scheme, 
the execution of which touched the growth of re- 
ligious interests above and around. 

I am not going to sketch the life and work of those 
who have ministered here for longer or shorter peri- 
ods since the erection of this church. With its added 
enrichments, the beautiful memorials of the good and 
beneficent Christian men and women who have passed 
away, how different does it now appear from what it 
did on the 11th of April, 1843 ! It had been inti- 



324 ADDRESSES AND DISCOURSES. 

mated to Bishop Brownell, who was here on that day 
to consecrate it, that it should receive the name of 
Christ Church, instead of St. James, and for a time he 
hesitated, and thought as a measure of peace it might 
be expedient to do this. When the instrument which 
contained the essence of the ceremony — the Sentence 
of Consecration — was handed me to read, I remem- 
ber there were some anxious faces in the congrega- 
tion lest the old historic name had been set aside. 

It is a remarkable fact that the united period of all 
the rectorships of the parish since 1820 does not equal 
that of the venerable Richard Mansfield, who held it 
successively for seventy-two years ; the longest rec- 
torship known in our American Church and, with 
one exception, the longest on record in the Church 
of England. 1 Of the thirteen clergymen who have 
served you in the later generations, there are with us 
to-day, Brainard, Baldwin, and Buck, the present 
rector; others are living in remote sections of the 
country ; but the most part have crossed the great 
river and are awaiting us on the other side. 

The lot of your ancestors, my brethren, was cast in 

1 The Kev. Bartholomew Edwards, Rector of Ashill, Norfolk, Eng- 
land, was born in 1789, and took the degree of B. A. at St. John's Col- 
lege, Cambridge, in 1811 — the year that George IV. became regent. 
He was the patron of his own living, which he entered upon in 1813, 
two years before the battle of Waterloo was fought. He held it till his 
decease, February 21, 1889, when he was within ten days of tfye comple- 
tion of his one hundredth year. 

The Guardian (London), in mentioning his death, speaks of him as " a 
very active man, and a strong supporter of the claims of the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel. . . . He took part in the two services 
held in his church on Christmas Day (1888), and afterwards called on 
some of his parishioners to present his Christmas salutations." 



GLORIOUS THINGS OF THE CITY OF GOD. 325 

eventful times, and so are yours, in another sense. 
The change from want to affluence is shown by the 
mansions that cover your hillsides and the factories 
that send up their smoke from the valleys and along 
the banks of the Naug^/tuck and Housatonic. Very 
beautiful and interesting it is to note these evidences 
of worldly prosperity ; and to the spiritual mind it is 
alike interesting to witness the growth of the Church 
and the "glories of the wilderness' 3 exchanged for 
richer temples dedicated to the worship of the Triune 
God. You owe it to His grace and to the memory 
of those who have passed away, to keep the faith in 
its integrity, to love truth and righteousness, and to 
set forward and make prominent as far as it lieth in 
you what is for the good of the individual soul, for 
society, and for the communion to which we belong. 



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